EU citizens have elected a new European Parliament
EPP
European People's Party
EPP is made up of centre-right, pro-European Christian Democrats, dominated by Germany’s CDU/CSU, but also containing Hungarian leader Viktor Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party. The EPP has won each election since 1999. It did so again in 2019, despite the problems of the mainstream centre-right in Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
S&D
Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats
The S&D are centre-left, pro-European social democrats and the second-biggest party for the past 20 years. Italians and Germans dominate the group. It lost ground in 2019 given its woes in Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands, but got a boost in Spain after the May election.
RE
Renew Europe
RE, formerly known as ALDE, is centrist and very pro-European. Its biggest liberal contingents are from France, the UK, Spain and Romania. La République en Marche, French president Emmanuel Macron’s party joined the group in 2019.
Greens
EFA
European Greens/European Free Alliance
A group of pro-European environmentalists, the largest contingent of which is Germany’s Greens. They make up a parliamentary bloc with regionalist MEPs from Catalonia, Wales and Scotland.
ID
Identity and Democracy
A far-right and strongly Eurosceptic group, the ID's major parties are Salvini's League and France’s Rassemblement National (RN), previously known as the Front National. The group was previously known as the ENF. It also includes the German AfD party and the Dutch and Austrian Freedom parties.
ECR
European Conservatives and Reformists
The ECR, a group encompassing more moderate Eurosceptic conservatives, including Britain's Conservatives and Poland’s Law and Justice party, may be too small to survive after Brexit. Vox, the new Spanish ultranationalist party, joined the group after the 2019 election.
GUE
NGL
European United Left/Nordic Green Left
GUE is made up of far-left parties that are often hostile to fiscal austerity and the pro-business policies of the EU. It includes La France Insoumise, Linke from Germany, Spain’s Podemos and Syriza from Greece.
NI
Non-Inscrits
Members not attached to any of the recognised party groupings in the European Parliament. These include the UK's Brexit party, Italy's Five Star Movement and Golden Dawn in Greece.
The polls have closed and citizens of 28 EU member states have elected a new European Parliament. We are still awaiting final results from a few member states but the broad trends are clear.
The centre-right European People’s party and centre-left Socialists and Democrats have lost their combined majority for the first time since the inception of the European Parliament, though they remain the two biggest parties. What EPP and S&D lost, however, liberal and green groups have gained. Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and European Greens/European Free Alliance saw a significant increase in seats. The fate of eurosceptic and anti-immigration groups was mixed: European Conservatives and Reformists lost seats, while Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy increased their seat count. Far-right Europe of Nations and Freedom made the second biggest gains of the night, propelled by the success of Italy’s League and France’s National Rally.
Net change in seats
Compared to outgoing parliament, 28 of 28 countries reported
In the UK the newly formed eurosceptic Brexit party won by a wide margin, sidelining the Conservatives and Labour, which hold power in Westminster. Remain-supporting parties, the Liberal Democrats and Greens, scored their highest ever seat counts.
However, while English and Welsh voters showed strong support for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party, Scotland did not. The Scottish National party won half of Scotland's seats with 38% of the vote.
What about the UK?
73 of 73 seats in 12 of 12 constituencies. Percentages in brackets are local vote share
By vote share, %
Brexit
31%
Liberal Democrats
20%
Labour
14%
Green
12%
Conservative
9%
SNP
3% (38%)
Change UK
3%
Ukip
3%
Independent/ Others
1%
Plaid Cymru
1% (20%)
Sinn Féin
1% (22%)
DUP
1% (22%)
Alliance
1% (19%)
UUP
0% (9%)
Seats won
Brexit
29 (+15)
Liberal Democrats
16 (+15)
Labour
10 (-10)
Green
7 (+4)
Conservative
4 (-14)
SNP
3 (+1)
Change UK
0 (-1)
Ukip
0 (-3)
Independent/ Others
0 (-7)
Plaid Cymru
1
Sinn Féin
1
DUP
1
Alliance
1
UUP
0 (-1)
Vote share by Brexit position
Hard Brexit
34%
Brexit 31%
Ukip 3%
Remain
35%
Liberal Democrats 20%
Green 12%
Change UK 3%
Labour
14%
Conservatives
9%
* Other
8%
* “Other” category includes all parties not listed above.