An important advance for conservatism and a retreat for social democracy: The European Parliament election results

The right was the great winner of the elections to the European Parliament, the legislative body of the European Union. In these elections, each member country votes separately to elect its representatives (who are assigned according to their population density) to make up this body of 720 legislators. The legislators will subsequently elect the president of the European Commission, a position currently held by the German Ursula Von der Leyen.

After four years in which the green and social democratic parties had been very relevant in the European Union, the shift towards conservatism was such that it even caused Emmanuel Macron to call for early elections in France and the resignation of the prime minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo.

Conservative parties won in Italy, France, Austria and Hungary, also achieving second places in the Netherlands, Germany and Romania. However, despite achieving significant progress, the center-right and social democracy will continue to be the two majority blocs in the European Parliament.

Von der Leyen, who aspires to be re-elected as head of the European Commission, promised to be "a bastion against the extremes of the left and the right," so everything suggests that she will seek to ally with social democracy to obtain the necessary votes.

Who won and who lost?

According to projections, the European People's Party, a coalition that includes the center-right plus some additions, will be the first minority with 186 seats out of the 720. Second place will go to the left alliance, known as the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, which would hold about 133 seats. The Renew Europe alliance completes the podium, which includes centrist parties and will have 82 seats.

Identity and Democracy, the group that makes up the legislators who correspond to Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen, would be left with 60 seats, while the ECR, a group that includes, among others, Georgia Meloni in Italy and Vox in Spain, could reach up to 70. Behind would be the Green Group, with 53 seats.

Compared to the 2019 results, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe and the Green Group were the most affected.

What is the European Parliament?

Every one of the 27 members of the European Union voted in these elections to elect the new composition of the European Parliament. The legislative branch has budgetary powers and democratic control over the rest of the European institutions, especially the European Commission.

Member countries have a number of parliamentarians proportional to their population. For example, Malta has 6 while Germany has 96.

Elections are held every five years, and each member decides the electoral system to use, the voting criteria, and, of course, the date. Citizens vote for lists of national political parties, obtaining several MEPs proportional to the number of votes. However, the elected legislators will then choose which coalition within the European Parliament they will enter.

For example, a legislator elected by the Popular Party of Spain could join the European People's Party coalition, another group of their choice, and even choose not to join any.