Catalan and Spanish political parties celebrate results in 2024 European elections

Conservative parties won big in the European elections across the Union. In Spain, the People's Party won 22 seats, almost doubling their number of seats from the previous election in 2019. However, they did so by a narrow margin over the Socialists, who won 20 seats. 

"Today, after only six months in power, the Spaniards have already censored the Spanish government," said Cuca Gamarra, secretary general of the PP.

Socialist candidate Teresa Ribera acknowledged the PP's victory, but said the 30% of the vote they received was "a good result" and showed "clear support" for the Socialists. 

"If the PP presented this election as a vote [on the government], they have lost it completely," she said. 

PP candidate Dolors Montserrat said the result was "a victory for Spain" and vowed to fight in Europe to make Spain a "powerful" country in the Union.

Socialists win big in Catalonia

In Catalonia the Socialists were the big winners of the night, winning 30.6% of the vote, almost 8 percentage points more than in 2019.

"We are the strongest socialist party in Europe. No other party in Europe gets 30% of the vote," said the Socialist candidate in Catalonia, Javi López, shortly after the results were announced. 

The leader of the party in Catalonia and winner of the May 12 Catalan election, Salvador Illa, said that the results forced other political parties to "reflect" about opening a "new political phase" in Catalonia. 

Pro-independence parties lose seats

Catalan pro-independence parties lost many votes. Junts EU, the party of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, lost two of its three seats in the EU parliament. 

In 2019, they were the most voted party in Catalonia, but this time they fell behind the Socialists, getting 18% of the vote, a loss of 10 percentage points. 

Despite the losses, their candidate Toni Comín, who campaigned from Belgium, gave a "very positive assessment" of the results, even though "everything was against us." 

"We are campaigning from exile in a very difficult context, also because we had a Catalan election a few weeks ago," he added. 

Pro-independence Esquerra, which ran in a coalition of other nationalist parties from different regions of Spain, received 14.8% of the vote, losing 6 percentage points.

Their leader, Diana Riba, celebrated that they are the fourth most voted party in Spain, and said they are "the main alternative to the regime of 1978."

"There has been an increase of the far-right across Europe and the increase of populism options, and amid this context, left-wing pro-independence parties have been able to face the challenges," she said.

PP and far-right Vox make gains

Apart from winning in Spain, the PP also made gains in Catalonia. The conservatives came in fourth position with nearly 14% of the vote, an increase of 8 percentage points.

Far-right Vox also improved its results: in Spain it became the third most popular party with 6 seats, and in Catalonia it increased by 4 percentage points to 6%. 

"We perfectly understand that French president Emmanuel Macron has understood that he cannot govern like this, and we understand it. Hopefully, others will follow this path, as well here in Spain," Vox spokesperson José Antonio Fuster said referring to Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez.

Left-wing battle between Sumar and Podem

The left-wing parties Sumar and Podem, which ran separately, got similar results in both Spain and Catalonia. 

In Spain, Sumar won 3 seats and Podem won 2, losing 4 seats compared to 2019. 

In Catalonia, however, Podem got slightly more votes than Sumar: 4.60% and 4.30%.

"We did not meet our expectations, and these are not the results we had hoped for. We are also worried because of the low turnout," said Jaume Asens, candidate for Comuns Sumar. 

Irene Montero, candidate of the left-wing Podemos and former Minister of Equality, said her results were a "necessary step" and took responsibility for strengthening the party. 

"Our goal is to change everything that needs to be changed. To change Europe and Spain with more strength than we have had in the last ten years," she said. 

Ciudadanos wiped out of EU parliament

The liberal party, founded less than two decades ago in Barcelona and fiercely opposed to Catalan independence, has been wiped out of the EU parliament. 

In the last election in 2019, the party won 2.5 million votes, 12% of Spain's total, and eight seats, all of which it lost in Sunday's vote. 

"It is a result that we did not even expect, I have to recognize that we understand the difficulty of the moment, and the context of these elections. And I believe, we can also say that it is the end of a story, after 18 years since Ciudadanos was born in Spain," candidate Jordi Cañas said. 

 

Far-right 'The Party Is Over' enters EU Parliament

The newly formed far-right party Se Acabó La Fiesta (The Party is Over) will be represented in the EU Parliament for the next five years. 

The party, led by influencer Alvise Pérez, was the sixth most voted party in Spain, winning three seats.

"To the parasitic caste that defines themselves as left or right, and that has delivered Spain to foreign interests, from Se Acabó La Fiesta we say enough," their leader, Pérez, said in a press conference following the results.

"Enough of dividing Spaniards so that you continue robbing us because we all know that you do business amongst yourselves."