Spain Right Wins EU Vote, Slightly Ahead of PM’s Socialists

AFP/APP

Madrid:Spain’s right-wing Popular Party (PP) won Sunday’s EU vote in the country, just beating Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialists, official results showed. 

With almost all ballots counted, the opposition PP won 22 seats with 34.2 percent of the votes, ahead of the Socialist Party which secured 20 seats after securing 30.2 percent. 

During the last European polls in 2019, the Socialists came first with a strong lead, taking 21 seats compared with 13 for the PP. 

The far-right Vox came in third in Sunday’s vote, securing six seats, or 9.6 percent of the votes, up from four seats in 2019. 

A new far-right faction called “Se Acabo la Fiesta” (“The party’s over”), which a controversial YouTuber founded, made a strong debut, obtaining some 4.6 percent of the vote and will enter the European Parliament with three seats.

Sunday’s vote came almost a year after Spain held an inconclusive July election. 

Although the PP came first, it didn’t have the parliamentary support to form a government, leaving the way open for Sanchez. He mustered a majority with the backing of far-left and regional parties, including the Catalan separatists. 

Campaigning ahead of the European election has been marred by allegations against Sanchez’s wife. A court opened a preliminary graft probe and on Monday said it would summon her to testify early next month. 

The right-wing opposition has demanded the prime minister resign, but Sanchez has insisted that the probe was groundless and little more than a political attempt to unseat him.

The investigation was launched following a complaint filed by a group linked to the far right.