Results of European Parliament elections on 4-7 June 2009

The centre-right opposition  party, the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, led with 24.5% of the vote.The current government party the Socialists, campaigning as the Coalition for Bulgaria, followed with 18.6% of the vote.

The opposition Civic Democratic Party was the clear victor, winning 9 seats with 31.5% of the vote. The Social Democrats took 22.4% and 7 seats, followed by the Communists with 14.2% and the Christian Democrats with 7.6%.  The Czechs go to the polls again in October with an early general election, after the Civic Democrat government lost its marginal majority in Parliament.

The big winner in Estonia, Indrek Tarand, is a TV talkshow host, who won 25.8% of the vote, very close to the 26% cast for the leading party, and well ahead of the government Reform party (15.3%). The pro-EU Social Democratic party lost 2 out of the 3 seats they held since 2004.  The turnout was significantly higher than in 2004.  14% of the electorate voted in advance, using Estonia’s pioneering internet voting facility.

The centre-right opposition party Fidesz won 56.4% of the vote and increased its number of MEPs.  The former coalition partner of the government SzDSz (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége) lost most of its support, receiving only 2.2% of the vote.   The recently formed far-right Jobbik party (“For a better Hungary”) picked up 15%, with a campaign blaming the Roma for a breakdown in law and order.   They came uncomfortably close to the minority government MSzP (Socialist) with 17.4%.

Only two out of the parties above have survived since 2004, and turnout was significantly higher. The right-of-centre Latvian New Era coalition government, having negotiated a bailout from the IMF, has begun to impose an austerity programme. The voting population clearly reject the pain. The Harmony Centre party won 20%, and appears to have extended its support beyond its ethnic Russian foundations. One of its new MEPs spent six years in prison after trying to overthrow the country’s first post-Soviet democratic government. A second pro-Russia party got nearly 10%. If the European Parliament election was bad for prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis, the result of the local elections held at the same time was even worse for him.

Ex-president Rolandas Paksas has won one of the two seats for his populist Order and Justice party, which came in third in this election with 12.2% of the vote, behind the ruling conservative Christian Democrats (26.8%) and the other opposition party the Social Democrats (18.6%).  In 2004 Paksas was the first European president to be ousted through impeachment, and the issue was thought a factor in the good turnout at the 2004 election. Turnout this year was less than half that of 5 years ago and the 2nd lowest in Europe.

The centre-right government party Civic Platform was the clear winner with 44.4% of the vote. The eurosceptic opposition Law and Justice party took 27.4% of the votes, while the left-wing Social Democratic Alliance came third with 12.3%. Turnout was still quite low, though significantly higher than in 2004.

The two parties in the ruling coalition came first and second in the poll. The Social Democrat Party (PSD) with 30.8% and Prime Minister Emil Boc’s centre-right Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) with 29.8%.

The far-right Greater Romania Party (PRM), an ultra-nationalist grouping campaigning to harass the large ethnic Hungarian minority in Transylvania, won 8.7%. The party lost all its seats in the national parliament in 2008.

Former model Elena Băsescu, the daughter of President Traian Băsescu and dubbed during the campaign “the Paris Hilton of the Carpathians”, won a seat as an independent with 4.2% of the vote.

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer (“Direction”) party received 32% of the votes and claimed to be the clear winner. The main opposition Democratic and Christian Union party picked up 17%. Third in the list was the coalition of ethnic Hungarian parties with 11.3%.

The junior government coalition partner, the Slovak National Party (SNS) was not satisfied with the results, winning just 5.6% to get one MEP seat, likely to be taken by one of the more moderate party members, and sparking speculation that the SNS might now review its traditional nationalistic policies.

Turnout was higher than 5 years ago, but still the lowest of the 27 EU countries.

The largest opposition party the SDS topped the poll with 26.9% of the vote.  The government Social Democrats won 18.5%.  The centre-right New Slovenija party had 16.3% and the Liberal Democrats 11.5%. Several former Ministers in previous government were standing in this election as MEP candidates, not always successfully.