The Socialist Party of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was marginally behind the conservative Popular Party (PP) in the European election, according to an exit poll released ahead of official results.
The Socialists had secured 20-22 seats, compared with 21 in 2019, according to a poll by Sigma Dos for national broadcaster RTVE, published as voting ended across almost all of Spain. The PP had 21-23 seats, up from 13.
The PP benefited from the collapse of its smaller rival, the Ciudadanos party. However, its hopes of delivering a devastating defeat to the Socialists, having presented this election as a plebiscite on Mr Sánchez, appeared to be thwarted.
The far-right Vox made gains with six to seven seats. The left-wing Sumar alliance, the junior partner in the coalition government making its debut in an EU election, had three to four seats, while its rival Podemos appeared to have suffered losses with two to three seats.
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A new far-right party, Se Acabó la Fiesta (The Party’s Over), led by online conspiracy theorist Alvise Pérez, securedtwo to three seats. Meanwhile, the pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, suffered losses with one seat, according to the poll.
The left had gone into this election warning of the threat of the far right, both in Spain and across the Continent.
After casting his vote in Madrid, Mr Sánchez said this election was a choice between “a Europe that continues to give a solidarity-based response to the challenges and crises that we face, or a reactionary Europe of cuts, backwardness”.
The far-right Vox party’s candidate, Jorge Buxadé, described the prime minister’s comment as “despicable” and an incitement to political violence.
The campaign leading up to the election was fought almost exclusively on domestic matters. During it, the Spanish parliament gave its final approval to a deeply controversial amnesty law for Catalan nationalists, placing the issue firmly at the centre of political debate. The opposition alleges that the law is unconstitutional and that Mr Sánchez’s government presented it only in exchange for the support of Catalan nationalist parties in parliament.
An ongoing court investigation into Begoña Gómez, the wife of Mr Sánchez, over allegations of corruption, also dominated the build-up to the election, with the government claiming the inquiry is part of a right-wing smear campaign. The government expressed astonishment when the investigating judge announced, during the last week of the campaign, a court summons for Ms Gómez next month.
In Portugal, exit polls had the centre-right Democratic Alliance and the Socialist Party neck and neck.
The European ballot came just three months after a Portuguese general election which led to the formation of a new, but far from stable, centre-right government. Immigration was a prominent issue during the campaign, after the new government toughened requisites for foreigners to obtain residency permits. A tough line on immigration is a major priority for the far-right Chega, which exit polls showed was tied with the Liberal Initiative (IL).
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