European election results.

[Dominick]

In this thread I'll post the results for all concerned European countries with a little bit of context for it. And finally there will be the overall results for the entire European Parliament.

First up will be the Netherlands who've already voted today. It looks like the results there will be representative for most countries. But I'll await the final results, which -and this deserves a thread of its own- are a bit belated because Holland has entirely abandoned electronic voting.

[Dominick]

The Netherlands for instance have 17 parties partaking in these elections. They're not all important but it looks like at least eight of them will have a minimum of one seat in the European Parliament. This will be the case with many of the countries. For ease of explanation, I'll provide a legend here in this post, with a few other abbreviations thrown in. Please refer to it so I don't have to repeat the same thing 27 times :)

EP : European Parliament.
EC : European Commission
EU : European Union
EZ : Eurozone (those countries that have the EURO as currency)
ES : Schengen countries (countries that have no borders whatsoever between each other)

CD : Christian Democrats - center
SD : Social Democrats - center left
CL : Classical liberals - center right (no relation with North American liberals)
SO : genuine socialists - left
GR : Green - center to left
PP : Populists - center to right
ER : Extreme Right - extreme right (duh)
NT : Nationalists - right to extreme right

Others (yes, there's more, plenty more :D) I will explain in the post of their respective countries).

[Dominick]

The Netherlands 100%

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 16.5 M EP seats : 25
Turnout : 36%


CDA (CD) : 5 (-2)
PvdA (SD) : 3 (-4)
VVD (CL) : 3 (-1)
GrLinks (GR) : 3 (+1)
SP (SO) : 2 (=)
CU-SGP* : 2 (=)
D66* : 3 (+2)
PVV (PP) : 4 (+4)


*
CU stands for ChristenUnie which translates to Christian Union and is arguably the closest thing you'll find in Europe to American style Evangelicals.
D66 are left leaning classical liberals, a rather rare breed that has had some significant moments of importance in Holland.

I'm pretty sure Holland sets the trend here for the rest of Europe. The classical parties (CD, SD and CL) lose significantly. The three parties that represent the center of politics in Europe lose here together 7 seats and drop from 18 seats out of 25 to 11.

The winners are on the outside of the political spectrum with a small profit for the left (D66 and GrLinks) and a bigger one for the populist right (from 0 to 4 for PVV). PVV is the party of Geert Wilders who has received some notoriety with Islamophobic movies and ditto utterances.

I fully expect this tendency to continue in most countries.

[Michael]

Wow! That looks like the CD and SD are taking a beating and populists are picking up the pieces. That is very ugly indeed. The EU project is looking mighty unpopular these days.

[Dominick]

Wow! That looks like the CD and SD are taking a beating and populists are picking up the pieces. That is very ugly indeed. The EU project is looking mighty unpopular these days.
Not all populists are EU sceptics. But I'll elaborate on that when the final results for all countries are known and the supranational fractions in the EP are formed.

By the way, Holland is the only place that will have results before Sunday. All others, including the UK that also voted yesterday will either not vote before Sunday or will not make the results public before then.

[Michael]

But I'll await the final results, which -and this deserves a thread of its own- are a bit belated because Holland has entirely abandoned electronic voting.

By the way, Holland is the only place that will have results before Sunday. All others, including the UK that also voted yesterday will either not vote before Sunday or will not make the results public before then.

Indeed, worthy of its own thread!

My understanding is that paper ballots with manual counting is, in the end, faster and more reliable than 'other' methods, despite the counter-intuitiveness of this.

[SMadsen]

Oh, this reminds me that it may be a good time for me to go over and vote :rules:

[Michael]

Oh, this reminds me that it may be a good time for me to go over and vote :rules:

Is it just me or does anyone else find it 'odd' that so many Europeans vote on Sundays?

:shrug:

[SMadsen]

Is it just me or does anyone else find it 'odd' that so many Europeans vote on Sundays?

:shrug:
Why would it be odd? Which days of the week would not be odd?

[Dominick]

Belgium 100%

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 10.6 M EP seats : 22
Turnout : N/A (compulsory)

Okay, how am I going to explain Absurdistan ? :ummm::rofl:

Belgium is a federal state. It is divided in sections that have their own government. But that's too simple for Belgians, so there are two different, partially overlapping, systems of repartition.

The first one is purely geographical with Flanders in the North, Wallonia in the south, Brussels separately in between and the so-called Ostkantons in the east on the border with Germany (this little region has in fact belonged to Germany several times in the past). Today these regions have held regional elections besides the European ones but I won't go into those here.

The second repartition of Belgium is cultural along linguistic lines. For the German speaking Belgians the cultural Gemeinschaft is identical to the geographical area of the Ostkantons. Not so for the rest, as the population of Brussels is smeared out over the Dutch speaking community and the French speaking community. These two communities are thus not identical to Flanders or Wallonia. And it's these along the repartition of these communities that the European seats are defined.

The German speaking folks have 1 (one) seat to elect, the French speaking people 8 (eight) and the Dutch speaking inhabitants 13.

For the German speaking folks, it's simple. Since it exists as an semi-autonomous political structure the single seat has gone to the CSP which are christian democrats.

For the French speaking folks the results are:

PS (SD/SO) : 3 (-1)
MR (CL) : 2 (-1)
Ecolo (GR) : 2 (+1)
Cdh (CD) : 1 (=)


For the Dutch speaking folks:

VB (ER) : 2 (-1)
VLD (CL) : 3 (=)
CdV (CD) : 3 (=)
SpA (SD) : 2 (-1)
Groen (GR) : 1 (=)
NVA (NT) : 1 (=)
LDD (PP) : 1 (+1)


Now, because the 22 Belgian seats in the EP are smeared out over no less than 12 parties it's difficult to tell what really happened with just the information about the seats. So I'll do the breakdown with the percentages specific to the cultural partitions in this case:

Dutch-speaking:

VB (ER) : 16.0 % (-7.2)
VLD (CL) : 20.1 % (-1.8)
CdV (CD) : 23.6 % (N/A *)
SpA (SD) : 13.3 % (N/A **)
Groen (GR) : 7.7 % (-0.3)
NVA (NT) : 10.0 % (N/A *)
LDD (PP) : 7.3 % (+ 7.3)

* In the previous election the CdV and the VNA were a single list so their results can' be directly compared. However if one adds the two they gained significantly.
** In the previous election the SpA was in a single list with the SLP which now gained only 0.6% Taken together they lost significantly.

French speaking :

PS (SD/SO) : 29.5 % (-6.6)
MR (CL) : 25.7 % (-1.9)
Ecolo (GR) : 23.0 % (+13.2)
Cdh (CD) : 13.5 % (-1.7)
FN (ER) : 3.4 % (-4.1)


The first thing that is remarkable is the heavy blow the extreme right has taken both in Flanders and Wallonia (well, actually in the Dutch speaking and the French speaking community buth that's too much work to type so keep the double repartition in mind please).
The infamous Vlaams Belang has lost generally a third of its votes compared to the previous European election. In some cities and counties it's even 60%. While most analysts and journalists are extatic about this, I'm not. The biggest winners on the Flemish side, NVA and LDD are an amalgam of extremist nationalists, xenophobic populists, brainless celebrities and people that defected from the Vlaams Belang in the first place. The big difference is that these two parties are deemed 'acceptable' by the other parties and might thus very well turn out to be the backdoor through which the fascist ideas of the VB will enter executive politics, pretty much as it has happened in Italy.

Wallonia is on another planet. While in Flanders 21 % vote left, in Wallonia it's 52.5 % Note especially the enormous progress of the Green party Ecolo (more than doubling its vote).

I don't expect the Belgian results to be typical at all for the rest of Europe for local reasons that would take really too long and too far to explain in this context.

[Dominick]

Luxembourg 100%

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 0.5 M EP seats : 6
Turnout : N/A (compulsory)


CSV (CD) : 3 (=)
LSAP (SD) : 1 (=)
DP (CL) : 1 (=)
Greens (GR) : 1 (=)


It now looks like there will be no changes in the seats for Luxembourg. With only 6 to give out this is hardly surprising. But Luxembourg is a pretty conservative country anyway, even the Greens there are quite conservative :) There are no big upsets in the percentages either.

[Dominick]

France

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 60.9 M EP seats : 72
Turnout : 40%


PS (SD/SO) : 14 (N/A)
UMP (2) : 30 (N/A)
UDF (2) : (11)
MoDem (2) : 6
FN (ER) : 3 (-4)
Les Verts (GR) : ( 6)
EE (GR) (3) : 14 (N/A)
PCF (1) : ( 3)
FG (4) : 4
MPF (PP/NT) : ( 3)
Libertas (5) : 1 (N/A)


(1) Genuine bona fide old school commies.
(2) These parties don't really fit the usual labels. It's impossible to explain just who they are without writing a book. The wiki entries give a good summary though. UMP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_for_a_Popular_Movement), UDF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_for_French_Democracy), MoDem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Movement_(France))
(3) EE, or Europe Ecologie, is an extension of Les Verts with extra candidates from diverse left wing organizations.
(4) FG, or Front de Gauche, is an extension of the Communist Party with extra candidates from diverse very (not to use 'extreme' :D) left organizations and some people who have left the PS, the Socialist Party.
(5) Libertas is a transnational European party which ironically is mostly constituted of Eurosceptics and nationalists. The MPF is part of it.

As you can see, it is almost impossible to make a meaningful comparison with the previous elections for France. Almost all parties of 2004 are in new coalitions, have ceased to exist, have known schisms and whatnot.
What is clear though is that here too the extreme right (FN) has taken a blow, that the ecological movement (EE) did very well, that the socialists/social democrats suffered and that Sarkozy's rightwing UMP remains the largest political faction in France by a big margin.

[Dominick]

Germany

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 82.4 M EP seats : 99
Turnout : 43%


CDU (CD) : 34 (-6)
SPD (SD) : 23 (=)
Grüne (GR) : 14 (+1)
CSU (CD) : 8 (-1)
PDS (*) : 8 (+1)
FDP (CL) : 12 (+5)

(*) The PDS, now Die Linke ("The Left") is a leftwing amalgam consisting of people with backgrounds ranging from social democrats to hardcore East German Marxists.

Remarkable little change here in Germany, the christian democrats of Angela Merkel lost a bit and the classical liberals won a bit. And that's about all that happened.
For the record, the CSU is the Bavarian variant of the CDU. They're a bit more conservative than the CDU but nevertheless very close.
Oh, and no, there is no extreme right worth mentioning in Germany.

Edit : A little change here, a Left seat went to the Green after all. Not an earth shattering shift :)
Still not final though. So much for German efficiency.

[Dominick]

Smadsen, is this really the list of political parties in Denmark:
A, V, F, O, C, N, B, J, I ?

If it is, :rofl: , only in Denmark.

[Dominick]

I'm going to wait a bit before continuing because it now doesn't seem certain these results are the final ones. :mad:

[Donkey]

Is it just me or does anyone else find it 'odd' that so many Europeans vote on Sundays?

:shrug:
They do in Argentina too.

To me it makes sense: if everybody isn't at work, they are more likely to vote.

[SMadsen]

Smadsen, is this really the list of political parties in Denmark:
A, V, F, O, C, N, B, J, I ?

If it is, :rofl: , only in Denmark.
What, do you have troubles deciphering that?? :)

A: Social Democrats (SD)
V: Classical Liberals (CL)
F: Socialist Party (SO)
O: Nationalists (NT)
C: Conservatives (?) - neither center nor extreme right, only right
N: "People's movement against the EU" - an EU opposition party (politically mixed, but mostly left)
B: Social Liberals (?) - center on most accounts
J: "June Movement" - another EU opposition party (mostly very left)
I: Liberal Alliance, - a classical liberals center party (CL)

[Michael]

They do in Argentina too.

To me it makes sense: if everybody isn't at work, they are more likely to vote.
Sorry, I associate Sundays as the "day of rest" where things are often closed. That doesn't seem symbolically appropriate for civil activity/duty.

It kinda makes voting seem like a 'weekend recreational activity' rather than a primary civic function.

I prefer a work day because voting is "civic work" and ought to be symbolically presented and treated as such.

[Dominick]

Italy

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 60.0 M EP seats : 72
Turnout : 66%

The first thing to say about Italy is that it's a mess politically. And it has been so since at least WWII. Well up into the 80s their governments had an average lifespan of less than a year. It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the entire political landscape and especially the composition of political parties gets redrawn every year too. Therefore I'm not going to make much of a comparison with the previous elections.


PdL : 29
PD : 22
LN : 9
LdP : 7
UDC : 5


The PdL is the party of Berlusconi. It's politically diffuse (if you think France is bad, read this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_of_Freedom#Factions)) to say the least. Basically it's a pure power party that's corrupt to the core and includes genuine Duce-style fascists.
The PD is almost equally diffuse but mostly center left.
LN stands for Lega Nord, i.e. North League, and are regional nationalists, not unlike Flemish nationalists.
The LdP is an ad hoc anti-corruption (read : anti-Berlusconi) party.
The UDC is the leftover of the christian-democrats.
It's entirely possible that at the time of the next European elections none of these parties will still exist.

Essentially Italy is no longer a democracy. If you oppose Berlusconi you'll be confronted with a smear campaign on all the television networks, commercial and public, as they're all directly or indirectly owned or controlled by Berlusconi. If you want to be on the side of power, you join Berlusconi, it's that simple and dozens of political factions and groupuscules have done just that.

[Dominick]

Intermission:

These six countries were the first and original members of the EU (differently named then) back in 1951 The first enlargement didn't come about until 1973 when the UK, Denmark and Ireland joined. These are up next.

[Dominick]

The United Kingdom

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 61.6 M EP seats : 72
Turnout : 34%

3 of the 72 seats are specific to Northern Ireland and are differently elected from those of Great Britain. The GB results -69 seats- are:


Conservative : 25 (+1)
Labour (SD) : 13 (-5)
UK Independence : 13 (+1)
LibDem (CL/SD) : 11 (+1)
Green (GR) : 2 (=)
BNP (NT/ER) : 2 (+2)
SNP (NT) : 2 (=)
Plaid Cymru (NT): 1 (=)


All those nationalists are regional : BNP British, SNP Scottish and Plaid Cymru Welsh.

Labour took a beating as could be expected. The government has been plagued with corruption or at least abuse of government funds scandals.
The BNP are fascists, the core of the party is the Blood and Honour movement.
But all in all not a very eventful result here, just as it is in Germany.

The Northern Ireland seats are decided by a multi stage process. At the moment one seat goes to Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the IRA.

:wip:

[Michael]

Sure is nice to see some results that I don't need the 'legend in post#2' to read! :lol:

[Dominick]

Ireland

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 6.0 M EP seats : 12
Turnout : 57%

Ireland, like Northern Ireland, has a rather weird election system (Leprechaun : hint, hint) that doesn't seem to be resolved yet:
http://electionsireland.org/counts.cfm?election=2009E&cons=524&ref=

:wip:

[Dominick]

Denmark

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 5.5 M EP seats : 13
Turnout : 60%

I was actually rather surprised that Denmark isn't in the Eurozone yet.

Results:

A : 4 (-1)
V : 3 (=)
F : 2 (+1)
O : 2 (+1)
C : 1 (=)
N : 1 (=)
B : 0 (-1)
J : 0 (-1)


Thanks to our local correspondent we know what these cryptic names stand for :)


A: Social Democrats (SD)
V: Classical Liberals (CL)
F: Socialist Party (SO)
O: Nationalists (NT)
C: Conservatives (?) - neither center nor extreme right, only right
N: "People's movement against the EU" - an EU opposition party (politically mixed, but mostly left)
B: Social Liberals (?) - center on most accounts
J: "June Movement" - another EU opposition party (mostly very left)
I: Liberal Alliance, - a classical liberals center party (CL)


Our local correspondent could possibly analyze the results too ?

[Dominick]

Intermission:

This concludes the 'Europa of the 9'. My initial prognosis based on the Dutch results hasn't survived. But final conclusions are for later.

By 1986 the EU became the 'Europa of the 12' after Greece, Spain and Portugal joined:

[Dominick]

Greece

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 11.2 M EP seats : 22
Turnout : 53%

The cradle of democracy voted thus:


PASOK (SO/SD) : 9 (+1)
ND : 7 (-4)
KKE : 2 (-1)
LAOS : 2 (+1)
SYRIZA : 1 (N/A)
OP (GR) : 1 (N/A)


By far the most leftwing country encountered so far. The PASOK are socialist, the KKE communist, SYRIZA extreme left and OP ecological left. Only the ND (centre right) and LAOS (Greek Ortodox/conservative/nationalist) don't fit the bill.
And what's more, the entire left did well here (13 out of 22 seats).

I'm moving to Greece :D

[Dominick]

Spain

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 46.7 M EP seats : 50
Turnout : 44%


PP (CD/CL) : 23 (-1)
PSOE (SO/SD) : 21 (-4)
CpE (NT) : 2 (=)
IU : 2 (=)
UPyd : 1 (+1)
EdP-V (GR) : 1 (=)

The IU is the United Left and is a left wing, former one issue, party that opposed Spain being in NATO.
UPyD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union,_Progress_and_Democracy) is an interesting little new party seeking to transcend classical political divisions.

Spain may well turn out to be the most typical result : losses for the socialists/social democrats and not all that much movement otherwise.
In itself the results are remarkable though as Spain was still a fascist dictatorship a mere 32 years ago.

[Dominick]

Portugal

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 10.7 M EP seats : 22
Turnout : 37%


PPD/PSD : 8 (-3*)
PS (SD) : 7 (-5)
BE : 3 (+2)
CDU : 2 (=)
CDS (CD) : 2 (N/A)

The PSD stands for Partido Social Democrat but it isn't SD. It's closely similar to the UK conservatives or the German CDU.
* is rather arbitrary as the current coalition is not quite the same as the parties I'm comparing with from the previous elections.
The BE is also left wing and might account for some of the loss of the PS.
The CDU comprises Commies, Greens and some social democrats.

Another beating for the socialists in any case.

[Dominick]

Intermission

The Europe of the 12 became the Europe of the 15 when Austria, Sweden and Finland joined in 1995. Yes, only 15 years ago, there were less than half of the number of countries in the EU as there are now.

Something I should have mentioned earlier : with all these enlargements, the EP is kept manageable by occasionally reducing the number of seats allocated to the countries that are already in. The comparisons I make are with the 2004 European elections and all countries except Germany (hmmm....) and a handful of the smallest have a smaller number of seats now. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2009#Re-apportionment_of_seats)

[Michael]

The cradle of democracy voted thus:
I stongly object to the assertion that there is even a remote or tiny thread of connection between classical Greece and modern Greece.

Indeed, there is no cultural or ethnic connections between them at all in any way shape or form. Britain or France has as much (or even greater) claim on the historical culture of ancient Greece than modern Greece does.

Modern Greece has spent most of the last century or two seeking to burn libraries, spitting on democracy and pissing on their ancient heritage.

About the only connection between modern Greece and ancient Greece is the insanely stubborn and pig-headed need to project control over inconsequential Mediterranean islands, no matter how much such a policy will hurt them in the short, medium and long term. Greek pride will never die, that's the only constant.

Btw, the actual "cradle" where modern democracy was born is the British Parliament not the Athenian Assembly.

[Dominick]

Austria

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 8.4 M EP seats : 17
Turnout : 42%


ÖVP (CD) : 6 (=)
SPÖ (SO) : 5 (-2)
Martin : 3 (+1)
FPÖ (NT) : 2 (+1)
GRÜNE (GR) : 1 (-1)

The FPÖ's days of success are over despite the gain of a seat. Haider had left it already before his death. His party, the BZÖ, doesn't gain a seat. Martin is one of those lists that thrive on the charisma of a single person, in this case an anti-corruption crusader.
Otherwise a by now typical defeat of the socialists which here haven't turned into social democrats.

[Dominick]

Sweden

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 9.2 M EP seats : 18
Turnout : 44%

Sweden has something in common with Denmark :)


S (SD) : 5 (=)
M (1) : 4 (=)
FP (CL) : 3 (+1)
MP (GR) : 2 (+1)
PP (2) : 1 (+1)
V (3) : 1 (-1)
C (4) : 1 (=)
KD (CD) : 1 (=)

(1) described as centre right conservative
(2) Interesting party this. They're the Pirates and yes, their main issue is opposition to copyright and intellectual property. They also favour political transparency and defend privacy.
(3) your typical nextdoor commie-green-feminist-socialist party :)
(4) described as a 'green social liberal' party with a focus on agrarian matters. Greendruid might like it.

Not much happening here except for the oblivion of the eurosceptic Junelist which counted three seats in 2004.

[Dominick]

Finland

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 5.3 M EP seats : 13
Turnout : 40%


KOK (1) : 3 (-1)
KESK (2) : 3 (-1)
SDP (SD) : 2 (-1)
KD PS (3) : 2 (+2)
VIHR (GR) : 2 (+1)
SFP (CL)(4) : 1 (=)

(1) centre right but not typical of that sector.
(2) centrist, also atypical.
(3) Presumably CD, but not certain. You try reading Finnish :D
(4) Classical liberal but Swedish speaking

Finland with its atypical main parties should be analyzed by a Finn. I'm pretty clueless here.

[Dominick]

In 2004 the EU jumped from 15 member states to 25. And in 2007 another two were added to make the current total of 27.

These twelve most recent additions are Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovenia and most recently Bulgaria and Romania.

Most of these were formerly Soviet satellites or at least under the influence of Moscow. You'll find the most ardent pro USA countries in this group, particularly Poland. Let's see if and how this shows in the election results. Note that for 2 of these countries these are their first European elections and for the others only their second.

Note also that I don't know all that much about some of these countries :o

[wphelan]

The United Kingdom

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 61.6 M EP seats : 72
Turnout : 34%

3 of the 72 seats are specific to Northern Ireland and are differently elected from those of Great Britain. The GB results -69 seats- are:


Conservative : 25 (+1)
Labour (SD) : 13 (-5)
UK Independence : 13 (+1)
LibDem (CL/SD) : 11 (+1)
Green (GR) : 2 (=)
BNP (NT/ER) : 2 (+2)
SNP (NT) : 2 (=)
Plaid Cymru (NT): 1 (=)


All those nationalists are regional : BNP British, SNP Scottish and Plaid Cymru Welsh.

Labour took a beating as could be expected. The government has been plagued with corruption or at least abuse of government funds scandals.
The BNP are fascists, the core of the party is the Blood and Honour movement.
But all in all not a very eventful result here, just as it is in Germany.

The Northern Ireland seats are decided by a multi stage process. At the moment one seat goes to Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the IRA.

:wip:

I just saw this posted on the Campaign for Liberty website. It's a conservative's call for Gordon Brown to step down. I only post it because he references both The Terminator and Dr. Suess. I often find British politicians much more colorful and interesting in their speeches than their American counterparts.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=19597

[Dominick]

Cyprus

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 0.8 M EP seats : 6
Turnout : 59%

"Cyprus" is actually but a part of Cyprus. The northern part of the island has been occupied by the Turkish army since 1974. Turkey will tell you that the southern part of the country has been occupied by the Greek though.
The Turkish part doesn't have the euro, and doesn't partake in these elections although technically-legally the EU agreement is with the whole of the island.


DISY : 2 (=)
AKEL : 2 (=)
DIKO : 1 (=)
EDEK (SD) : 1 (+1)
GTE : 0 (-1)

DISY is center right, AKEL are pragmatic communists, DIKO is also center right and GTE was an ad hoc coalition of the center right on the occasion of the previous elections.

First prize so far for uneventful elections.

[Dominick]

Malta

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 0.4 M EP seats : 5
Turnout : 79%

A joy for Americans ! Malta has two parties that together get 95% of the vote, a right one and a left one. The left one had 3 seats but lost one now and the right one had two and gained one.

Easy, no ?

[Michael]

I just saw this posted on the Campaign for Liberty website. It's a conservative's call for Gordon Brown to step down. I only post it because he references both The Terminator and Dr. Suess. I often find British politicians much more colorful and interesting in their speeches than their American counterparts.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=19597
That particular fellow is indeed rather colorful - and about as 'mainstream' as Ron Paul.

And I can't imagine anything more politically silly than the Tories demanding Gordon Brown step down right now. Tories look good as Brown takes all the blame for the present economic problems. If Brown resigns, then the Tories win a majority and all of sudden, Cameron is on the hot seat for dealing with the crisis.

Besides, the Brits are a bunch of 'euroskeptics' (Tory party especially) - they just don't care about British party results at the EU so this is hardly a 'damning' hit on Brown.

And given the present 'electoral calendar', the Tories would be much better served waiting out Brown's term and fight the election as the economy is perhaps poised for recovery next year.

[Michael]

Malta

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 0.4 M EP seats : 5
Turnout : 79%

A joy for Americans ! Malta has two parties that together get 95% of the vote, a right one and a left one. The left one had 3 seats but lost one now and the right one had two and gained one.

Easy, no ?
Easy yes, but the whole population of the place barely registers as even a smallish mid-sized city over here, so its hard to take that kind of 'sovereignty' seriously.

Heck, we have suburbs bigger than Malta. :rolleyes:

(as you may well guess, I am generally contemptuous of 'microstates')

[Dominick]

Hungary

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 10.0 M EP seats : 22
Turnout : 36%

Yes, Hungary is a country and not just a feeling you get when you haven't eaten in a while.


FIDESZ-KDNP (1) : 14 (+2)
MSZP (2) : 4 (-5)
JOBBIK (NT/ER) : 3 (+3)
MDF (4) : 1 (=)

(1) This is a coalition between the christian democrats and the conservative FIDESZ which originated as an anti-communist movement.
(2) A socialist/social democrat party that also contains the leftovers of the prerevolutionary communists.
(3) JOBBIK should scare you to death if you value liberty. Bona fide goose stepping fascists.
(4) A neoconservative party apparently.

Huge swing to the right here.

[Leprechaun]

Ireland

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 6.0 M EP seats : 12
Turnout : 57%

Ireland, like Northern Ireland, has a rather weird election system (Leprechaun : hint, hint) that doesn't seem to be resolved yet:
http://electionsireland.org/counts.cfm?election=2009E&cons=524&ref=

:wip:
The reason for Irelands lateness is the fact that we had local and bye-elections on the same day and the Europeans ones were counted last.
The results aren't complete yet but I'll give what we have and then edit later.
Dublin region:


Candidates: 10
Electorate: 812,465
Turnout: 50.8%
Valid Poll: 406,630
Spoilt Votes: 6054 (1.5)%
Number of Seats: 3

Party 1st Pref. Vote % Votes Seats Won
Fine Gael 96,715 23.8% 1
Labour 83,471 20.5% 1
Fianna Fáil 74,302 18.3% 0
Socialist Party 50,510 12.4% 1
Sinn Féin 47,928 11.8% 0
Independent 21,104 5.2% 0
Green Party 19,086 4.7% 0
Libertas 13,514 3.3% 0
OTHERS 0 0.0% 0
Fine Gael are typical right wing conservatives.
Labour are centre-centre-left (no the second centre was deliberate, they have moved to the right IMO although most disagree and I should mention that they are entirely different to British Labour)
Fianna Fáil are the ruling party and quite stereotypical of the centre-right parties that pushed the property market etc.
Socialist Party are communists essentially and very weak, the good result here was only due to one candidate, Joe Higgins who has quite a large profile.
Sinn Féin are a quite left-wing nationalist party with links to the IRA.
The Green Party are just that
Libertas is a pan-european right-wing euroskeptic group.



Elections 2009 - European Elections: (http://www.rte.ie/news/elections/european/)
- EAST



Count in Progress: No
Count Round: 7
Number of Seats: 3
Seats Filled: 3
Quota: 107,313



Candidates: 11
Electorate: 778,502
Turnout: 56.8%
Valid Poll: 429,249
Spoilt Votes: 13042 (2.9)%



EAST: Party Summary

Party 1st Pref. Vote % Votes Seats Won
Fine Gael 172,217 40.1% 1
Fianna Fáil 105,778 24.6% 1
Labour 78,338 18.3% 1
Sinn Féin 47,499 11.1% 0
Libertas 18,557 4.3% 0
Independent 6,860 1.6% 0
OTHERS 0 0.0% 0

[Michael]

The reason for Irelands lateness is the fact that we had local and bye-elections on the same day and the Europeans ones were counted last.
I'm curious: same ballot or separate ballots for different races?

Your comment about which is counted last suggests that separate ballots were used.

[Leprechaun]

I'm curious: same ballot or separate ballots for different races?

Your comment about which is counted last suggests that separate ballots were used.
Seperate ballot papers (although I couldn't vote so I coulnd't be sure). You also have to take into account proportional representation which takes longer. (but is infinitely superior)

[Michael]

Seperate ballot papers (although I couldn't vote so I coulnd't be sure). You also have to take into account proportional representation which takes longer.
Thanks.

(but is infinitely superior)
You appear to have a typo here. PR is infinitely inferior.

[Dominick]

Poland

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 38.1 M EP seats : 50
Turnout : 25% :eek:

Poland is the last of the big nations (shut up, Americans and Canadians ;)) and (in)famously home to Oświęcim (Auschwitz). One would expect an aversion to extremism for a country with a history that is replete with the worst examples from both political wings.
But is that so ?


PO : 25 (+10)
PiS : 15 (+8)
SLD-UP (SD) : 7 (+2)
PSL (CD) : 3 (-1)

The PO is best described by comparing it with American Republicans. There aren't many mainstream parties in Europe that oppose abortion, same-sex marriage, stem cell research and so on but this is one.
PiS stands for Law and Justice and is also a conservative party.

That's right, kids. In Poland the left gets 7 out of 50 seats. The big losers here are the LPR that lost all its 10 seats. This party that was far right and anti-Semitic (go figure) and doesn't appear to have been absorbed by any of the winners so this is a very remarkable result. Another loser is the SORP, a labour party (not Labour), that lost all its 6 seats and likewise doesn't appear to be absorbed by other parties.

Landslide stuff here.

[Dominick]

Slovakia

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 5.4 M EP seats : 13
Turnout : 20% :eek: (a record)


SMER (SD) : 5 (+2)
SDKÚ-DS (CD) : 2 (-1)
SMK-MPK (1) : 2 (=)
KDH (CD) : 2 (-1)
ĽS - HZD (CD) : 1 (-2)
SNS (ER) : 1 (+1)

(1) is the overal party for the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.

The fragmentation of the christian democrats caused losses for each of the fragments while the social democrats improve their result here. SNS is fugly, some of their members literally go Roma hunting (gypsies).

[Dominick]

Latvia

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 2.2 M EP seats : 8
Turnout : 52%


PS : 2
SC : 2
PCTVL : 1
LPP/LC : 1
TB/LNKK : 1
JL : 1


To be honest, I can't make head or tails of these parties and their 2004 counterparts. They merge and break up and remerge faster than those in Italy.
Anyone speak Latvian ? :D

[Dominick]

Estonia

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 1.3 M EP seats : 6
Turnout : 43%


KE : 2 (+1)
ER (CL) : 1 (=)
IRL : 1 (+1)
SDE : 1 (-2)
I. Tarand : 1 (+1)

I. Tarand is the son of a former leader of the social democratic SDE party. He gained 25% of the vote single handledly and may account for the vast loss of the SDE.
KE : centrist social liberal
IRL : conservative

[Dominick]

Lithuania

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 3.5 M EP seats : 12
Turnout : 21% :eek:


TS-LKD (CD) : 4 (+2)
LSDP (SD) : 3 (+1)
TT : 2
DP : 1 (-4)
LLRA : 1
LRLS : 1

DP : centrist
LLRA : overal party for the Polish minority in Lithuania
TT : conservative liberal (:D)
LRLS : ditto

[Dominick]

Czech Republic

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 10.5 M EP seats : 22
Turnout : 28%


ODS : 9 (=)
ČSSD (SD) : 7 (+5)
KSČM : 4 (-2)
KDU-ČSL (CD) : 2 (=)

ODS are conservatives and in fact closely allied in the EP with the British Conservatives.
KSČM literally stands for The Communist Party of Bohemia and Morovia. At least the name is nice.

Social democrat victory here. Quite rare.

[Dominick]

Slovenia

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 2.0 M EP seats : 7
Turnout : 28%


SDS : 2 (=)
SD (SD) : 2 (+1)
N.Si : 1 (-1)
LDS (CL) : 1 (-1)
zares : 1

SDS : center right liberal conservative
N.Si : center right
zares : center left social liberal

[Dominick]

Bulgaria

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 7.6 M EP seats : 17
Turnout : 37%

A newcomer. It should be remarked that both Bulgaria and Romania next have a poor record as far as democracy goes. In both countries it's perfectly natural for political parties to go about and buy votes. Both know deplorable economic and social conditions too.


GERB : 5
BSP : 4
DPS : 3
ATAKA : 2
NDSV : 2
SDS : 1

GERB is center right and heavily pro Europe.
BSP is socialist and the successor of the prerevolutionary communist party.
DPS : party of ethnic Turks in Bulgaria (we're on the Balkan)
ATAKA : fascist, even worse than JOBBIK
NDSV : CL

Michael will like this : there's a party in Bulgaria called National Movement Simeon II which wants to institute Simeon Borissov Sakskoburggotski (aka Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) as Tsar of Bulgaria.

[Dominick]

Romania

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 21.5 M EP seats : 33
Turnout : 27%

The last pupil in the class and the one that needs the most work. Romania is poverty stricken with a sometimes heart-rending lack of social infrastructure.
See also description of Bulgaria.


PSD-PC : 11
PD-L : 10
PNL : 5
UDMR : 3
PRM : 3
Băsescu E : 1

PSD : social democrats
PC : conservatives
PD-L : liberal conservatives
PNL : liberal
UDMR : Hungarian minority *
PRM : more fascists

* Romania also has no less than 18 other political parties that represent cultural or ethnic minorities. These are Italians, Bulgarians, Ruthenians, Germans, Slovaks and Czechs, Turco-Islamic Tatars, Jews, Greeks, Albanians, Russians, Roma, democratic Turks, Armenians, Croatians, Poles, Serbs, Macedonians and Ukrainains. Yep, this must be the Balkan.

[Dominick]

The European Parliament

And this is how it looks now:


EPP - ED : 263 (35% of seats)
PES : 161 (22%)
ALDE : 80 (11%)
GREENS : 52 ( 7%)
UEN : 35 ( 5%)
GUE/ NGL : 33
INDEM : 19
Others : 93

The EPP-ED (European Peoples Party-European Democrats) are mainly christian democrats. They did well. They increased their seats even when the total number of seats decreased.

The PES (Party of European Socialists) are mainly socialists and social democrats. They lost significantly.

ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) are mainly classical liberals. Their results is pretty much similar to that of 2004.

The Greens did well and increased their number of seats.

The UEN (Union for Europe of the Nations) are mostly nationalists but excluding the genuine fascists. They did pretty good.

The GUE/NGL is the far left.

The NI (Non Inscrits, i.e. not registered) is where the fascists lurk. It's not a group though. It's the collection of those that are in no group at all.

The 'Others' comprises mainly the eurosceptics and populists. They have done quite well while the actual fascists haven't, at least not in Western Europe. They did have some small breakthroughs in Eastern Europe.

With this result, it's pretty certain that Barroso will take a second mandate as President of the European Commission.

I don't expect any spectacular changes in the policies of the EU. The focus will be even less on social matters though now that the socialists have lost significantly. The USA or Canada can expect a completely uneventful continuation of the present relations.

[Dominick]

And lastly a side-note though an important one.

This is the history of the turnout for the European elections:


1979 - EU 9 61.99
1984 - EU10 58.98
1989 - EU12 58.41
1994 - EU12 56.67
1999 - EU15 49.51
2004 - EU25 45.47
2009 - EU27 42.94

In two words : Not Good.

[SMadsen]

Formidable job, Dominick! Thank you.

[Americano]

And lastly a side-note though an important one.

This is the history of the turnout for the European elections:


1979 - EU 9 61.99
1984 - EU10 58.98
1989 - EU12 58.41
1994 - EU12 56.67
1999 - EU15 49.51
2004 - EU25 45.47
2009 - EU27 42.94
In two words : Not Good.

Don't feel too bad, US elections at municipal levels often consider a voter turnout of 25% 'excellent'. Here's a blurb on a general election in five Nevada counties one of which (Clark) includes the City of Las Vegas:

"Turnout for municipal general elections in Clark County has decreased in every election since 1999, falling from a high that year of 23.58 percent to a low in 2007 of 11.58 percent.
Lomax said if recent trends hold up, the early voting totals will represent about half of the total number of ballots cast, which would mean the county could possibly top 11.58 percent and stop the downward trend."


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/02/voters-head-polls-select-mayors-council-members-ju/

The only time voter turnout in my county exceeds 25% is when there's a tax increase on the ballot that needs to be defeated.

[Donkey]

Wow, very impressive compilation, Dominick. And to sum up: not much change, except less concern for social issues? ;)

One thing that does interest me, which you might be able to answer: will this have any change on immigration policies?

[Michael]

One thing that does interest me, which you might be able to answer: will this have any change on immigration policies?
I can't imagine that it would given that immigration policies are essentially set by the constituent national governments, not the EU Legislature.

Btw, I might add that we average 38% voter turnout for our municpal elections in Toronto (municipal or county elections are normally the lowest turnouts).

[Michael]

Wow, very impressive compilation, Dominick.
Yes, I agree - thanks for your hard work here Dominick - better quality information reporting than from any other source I've seen! :thumbsup:


:thanks:

[Dominick]

Sorry, I associate Sundays as the "day of rest" where things are often closed. That doesn't seem symbolically appropriate for civil activity/duty.

It kinda makes voting seem like a 'weekend recreational activity' rather than a primary civic function.

I prefer a work day because voting is "civic work" and ought to be symbolically presented and treated as such.
I don't know whether it applies to other countries but in Belgium there's a very good reason for it. When the establishment was first forced by the socialists to accept the extension of suffrage to the working class, they held elections on weekdays with a very specific purpose: the labourerers didn't get permission from their patrons to leave the workplace to go vote. It took a lot of social action to get the election days moved to the only day the labourerers didn't have to work : Sundays.

[Dominick]

Easy yes, but the whole population of the place barely registers as even a smallish mid-sized city over here, so its hard to take that kind of 'sovereignty' seriously.

Heck, we have suburbs bigger than Malta. :rolleyes:

(as you may well guess, I am generally contemptuous of 'microstates')
Malta's huge compared to Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, ... :lol:
It has a very interesting history though, being at such a pivotal spot in the Mediterranean.

[Dominick]

Don't feel too bad, US elections at municipal levels often consider a voter turnout of 25% 'excellent'. Here's a blurb on a general election in five Nevada counties one of which (Clark) includes the City of Las Vegas:

"Turnout for municipal general elections in Clark County has decreased in every election since 1999, falling from a high that year of 23.58 percent to a low in 2007 of 11.58 percent.
Lomax said if recent trends hold up, the early voting totals will represent about half of the total number of ballots cast, which would mean the county could possibly top 11.58 percent and stop the downward trend."


http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/02/voters-head-polls-select-mayors-council-members-ju/

The only time voter turnout in my county exceeds 25% is when there's a tax increase on the ballot that needs to be defeated.
Flabbergasting.
We need a new word. That's not demos that is voting here. Maybe ritualocracy ? :ummm:

[Dominick]

Wow, very impressive compilation, Dominick. And to sum up: not much change, except less concern for social issues? ;)

One thing that does interest me, which you might be able to answer: will this have any change on immigration policies?
That's a very interesting question.

I can safely say that the answer is not as simple as this:
I can't imagine that it would given that immigration policies are essentially set by the constituent national governments, not the EU Legislature.

Immigration policies are actually essentially set for most EU-countries by the Schengen treaty, which is a supranational matter. No matter who you are, or where you are from, once you're inside the Schengen zone, there are no borders to be concerned about. So, every country that has a Schengen border, i.e. a border with a non-Schengen country, allows someone in not only with respect to its own territory but to that of the entire Schengen zone.

The conditions upon which the admissions are made are inscribed into the treaty too. But there is doubtless a difference between theory and practice in this regard. Some of the Schengen countries simply don't have the means to do the proscribed background checks. And there are ideological variations too.

What does differ significantly from one country to another though, and is a matter of national policy, is how immigrants are treated once they're inside a
Schengen country. That varies from full citizenshop ex officio to plain abuse.

As such, I do not think this result will have a significant impact. There is no call here for a new or adapted Schengen treaty so that won't change. The situation on the national level in some countries might change a bit though. I'm sure many immigrants have heaved a big sigh of relief where the extreme right has taken a blow. On the other hand, a group such as the Roma in Bulgaria or Romania are not particularly feeling confident I'm sure.

[Americano]

Flabbergasting.
We need a new word. That's not demos that is voting here. Maybe ritualocracy ? :ummm:

'Good 'ol boys' most often control rural US counties.

[Americano]

I don't know whether it applies to other countries but in Belgium there's a very good reason for it. When the establishment was first forced by the socialists to accept the extension of suffrage to the working class, they held elections on weekdays with a very specific purpose: the labourerers didn't get permission from their patrons to leave the workplace to go vote. It took a lot of social action to get the election days moved to the only day the labourerers didn't have to work : Sundays.

I can imagine an aristocratic land owner stating 'Vote? They don't need to vote, we make the rules'.

[Dominick]

By the way, what I'd like to hear most of all is whether this list has influenced anyone's perception of Europe ?

[Michael]

By the way, what I'd like to hear most of all is whether this list has influenced anyone's perception of Europe ?
For me, not really. I was already quite familiar with the average layout of the political picture in most of the larger countries - and the stronger pro-American rightwing in the old Warsaw pact countries.

What I find most interesting about the whole enterprise is way each country votes apparently according to their own domestic politics. For example, Belgium the right went down, but in Holland the right went up. Germany was mostly status quo, but the ruling party took a protest hit. Likewise with Britain and Spain with the ruling parties taking a small hit). And a big surge for the right in Hungary.

But overall, when you look at the EU totals, the resulting picture is a broadly predictable one that does seem to represent 'EU-wide' trends.

I guess the real question here is how much the results are local/national referendums on the ruling governments and how much are expressions of EU policy preferences. It looks to me like the latter doesn't even exist at all.

Btw, this phenomena is similar to the American one where each state race is only understood in terms of local politics, but overall, the national results do tend to represent broadly predictable trends.

[Michael]

Poland

EU - EZ - ES (legend in post #2)

Pop. 38.1 M EP seats : 50
Turnout : 25% :eek:

Poland is the last of the big nations (shut up, Americans and Canadians ;)) and (in)famously home to Oświęcim (Auschwitz). One would expect an aversion to extremism for a country with a history that is replete with the worst examples from both political wings.
But is that so ?


PO : 25 (+10)
PiS : 15 (+8)
SLD-UP (SD) : 7 (+2)
PSL (CD) : 3 (-1)

The PO is best described by comparing it with American Republicans. There aren't many mainstream parties in Europe that oppose abortion, same-sex marriage, stem cell research and so on but this is one.
PiS stands for Law and Justice and is also a conservative party.

That's right, kids. In Poland the left gets 7 out of 50 seats. The big losers here are the LPR that lost all its 10 seats. This party that was far right and anti-Semitic (go figure) and doesn't appear to have been absorbed by any of the winners so this is a very remarkable result. Another loser is the SORP, a labour party (not Labour), that lost all its 6 seats and likewise doesn't appear to be absorbed by other parties.

Landslide stuff here.
Quick question - which party PO or PiS is the 'twins' party? I thought they were Law & Justice (PiS) but I could easily be mistaken there - it is so easy to get all these local party names confused.

[Dominick]

Quick question - which party PO or PiS is the 'twins' party? I thought they were Law & Justice (PiS) but I could easily be mistaken there - it is so easy to get all these local party names confused.
Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński are members of the PiS, i.e. Law and Justice.

[Dominick]

For me, not really. I was already quite familiar with the average layout of the political picture in most of the larger countries - and the stronger pro-American rightwing in the old Warsaw pact countries.

What I find most interesting about the whole enterprise is way each country votes apparently according to their own domestic politics. For example, Belgium the right went down, but in Holland the right went up. Germany was mostly status quo, but the ruling party took a protest hit. Likewise with Britain and Spain with the ruling parties taking a small hit). And a big surge for the right in Hungary.

But overall, when you look at the EU totals, the resulting picture is a broadly predictable one that does seem to represent 'EU-wide' trends.

I guess the real question here is how much the results are local/national referendums on the ruling governments and how much are expressions of EU policy preferences. It looks to me like the latter doesn't even exist at all.

Btw, this phenomena is similar to the American one where each state race is only understood in terms of local politics, but overall, the national results do tend to represent broadly predictable trends.
If one would put the results per country next to each other but shift them a little along a temporal axis, they'd pretty much overlap (I'm speaking roughly of course). Some countries saw the burst of the extreme right earlier than others. And in these results it's remarkable that those countries that saw the burst first are now showing a heavy decline in their success. That's reassuring but of course no guarantee the decline must happen everywhere.

It's far too defintive to declare that no voting based on EU policy preferences exists at all. That can be easily shown by the difference in results between local, regional or national elections that are held on the same day as the European elections. Belgium. e.g. had regional elections on the same day and the results are dissimilar. Not to a very great extent but not negligible either. For instance, the Flemish classical liberals are in 4th place for the regional elections but in second for the European ones. That's 5% of the entire electorate that didn't vote for them regionally but did so on the European level. And vice versa, a quarter of the people that voted CL on the European level didn't so so regionally.

If you call them predictable, I'll be obliged to call your predictions prior to the elections next time. ;)

[Michael]

If one would put the results per country next to each other but shift them a little along a temporal axis, they'd pretty much overlap (I'm speaking roughly of course). Some countries saw the burst of the extreme right earlier than others. And in these results it's remarkable that those countries that saw the burst first are now showing a heavy decline in their success. That's reassuring but of course no guarantee the decline must happen everywhere.
Yes, this does show the broad outline of some 'Euro' political trends.

As I noted, the US also shows an extraordinary range of diversity in politics across their regions as well - especially between their federal and state party voting patterns. The range in Europe seems perhaps greater at this time, but that is a function of the young age of the enterprise (EU). Early US politics was characterized by quite fluid party labels and often no labels at all, long before it became a monopoly of two parties.

It's far too defintive to declare that no voting based on EU policy preferences exists at all. That can be easily shown by the difference in results between local, regional or national elections that are held on the same day as the European elections. Belgium. e.g. had regional elections on the same day and the results are dissimilar. Not to a very great extent but not negligible either. For instance, the Flemish classical liberals are in 4th place for the regional elections but in second for the European ones. That's 5% of the entire electorate that didn't vote for them regionally but did so on the European level. And vice versa, a quarter of the people that voted CL on the European level didn't so so regionally.
Yes, I'd expect that kind of diversity in voting at different levels within a fairly limited range (matching the kind of example you gave).

As for the existence of 'trans-EU' type voting, were there any particular EU issues on the table - EU issues that were pan-Europe and not just local EU issues? Were there any concerted trans-national campaigns of any kind? Or is ALL the political messaging specific to each country?

If you call them predictable, I'll be obliged to call your predictions prior to the elections next time. ;)
On the general pattern of the aggregate EU result, then yes, I'll take a shot at that next time. Even if only to test my hypothesis. :)