Between Thursday, May 23 and Sunday, May 26, European voters let their leaders know what was on their minds.
The 2019 EU elections were quite the eye-opener, as nationalist parties and the Greens did very well indeed:
Like them or not, interesting trends emerged:
Italy
Matteo Salvini was thrilled:
France
Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) — National Rally — edged past Emmanuel Macron’s LREM — Renaissance — list:
Politico reported that Le Pen’s party:
scored about 24 percent of the vote, compared with roughly 22.5 percent for Macron’s centrist-liberal party, according to two initial projections.
United Kingdom
The biggest news came from the United Kingdom. The six-week old Brexit Party won nine out of ten regions.
The Telegraph reported (emphases mine):
The Brexit Party has won nine of the 10 regions to declare their results in the European elections, claiming 28 of 64 seats in the European Parliament.
Nigel Farage’s party came top in the North East, North West, East of England, Wales, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber, the South West and South East.
This came largely at the expense of the Conservative Party. Theresa May’s party have lost a huge share of the vote across all regions, so far losing 15 MEP seats to leave a total of three. The party is in fifth place, with its lowest vote share in a national election since they formed in 1834.
Good grief!
However, The Brexit Party is represented in 10 out of 10 regions, as this Scottish result came in early on Monday morning:
It seems that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party will now hold one more seat than Angela Merkel’s CDU Party: 29 to 28!
Nigel Farage gave his MEP acceptance speech in Southampton, saying:
These are some of the regional results (click on image to enlarge):
Here are the other new Brexit Party MEPs.
Hearty congratulations, ladies and gentlemen!
What an amazing result!
Like the Conservatives, Labour also suffered. The Liberal Democrats received a lot of Remain votes from Labour voters, as did the Greens. In Scotland, the SNP took a substantial share of Labour votes.
You can read more about the EU election results on the BBC’s website and at the Daily Mail.
10 comments
May 28, 2019 at 9:54 pm
Jan Phillips
Great articles Churchmouse. How exciting!
Is there any possibility that Nigel Farage could be Prime Minister?
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May 28, 2019 at 10:39 pm
churchmouse
Not unless The Brexit Party gets the same (or similar) results as they did in this election.
The difficulty is that Britons vote differently in EU elections. EU elections can be seen as the excuse for a protest vote. EU elections aren’t that important. We don’t know what goes on in Brussels.
On the other hand, WRT general elections, UK voters think a lot more about the candidates before they go to the polls. Parliament’s decisions affect our daily lives.
In time, Nigel will come up with a party manifesto. I understand he is not keen on the NHS. Should he wish to abolish it in his manifesto, I would be very hesitant about voting for him. Millions of others would too, never mind Brexit. The NHS is sacrosanct.
Coming from the American health system, which I think has been a disaster since the 1980s, the NHS is a dream come true. It’s not perfect, and we pay for it through taxes, but it’s much better than HMOs and private physicians. Frankly, having accompanied my mother to one of her appointments, I was appalled that she had to pay for the ‘care’ she received from her ‘family doctor’ (‘general practitioner’ here). Her appointment was no longer than an NHS appointment would have been. I would have rated it about the same. Her having had to pay for it added insult to injury. (In the UK, a bad GP is a bad GP, but at least no additional payment takes place).
I know that mine is not the American perception of ‘socialised healthcare’, but, in general, the NHS works really well. It certainly isn’t any worse than American healthcare — and, in many respects, it’s a lot better.
For that reason, if the Conservatives come up with a leader who can deliver Brexit (e.g. Boris Johnson, despite his many faults), I will be more likely to support them.
That said, it’s early days and we have a way to go before a GE. The last one was just under two years ago. According to present law, the next one should be in 2022, despite the clamour from the Left and other Remainers.
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May 28, 2019 at 10:52 pm
Jan Phillips
Thank you so much! What is WRT? I understand the election a lot better now!!
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May 28, 2019 at 11:30 pm
churchmouse
You are most welcome, Jan.
WRT = with regard to
‘I understand the election a lot better now!!’ Great! The other thing to remember is that, in a general election, we don’t vote for a Prime Minister, we vote for an MP, and the majority party of elected MPs wins or forms a coalition to effect a parliamentary voting majority (e.g. Conservative David Cameron with Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems in 2010 and, in 2017, Theresa May with the DUP from Northern Ireland).
We are getting a bit more presidential as to whom we want to see as PM, but the election exercise in a GE is to vote for an MP to represent our own constituency’s interests.
That is another factor in my personal decision. I would be highly unlikely to vote for a minor/new party without an established track record in a general election. Too risky for me, anyway. Others’ mileage may differ. 😉
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May 29, 2019 at 12:40 am
Jan Phillips
Oh!! Haha!! Thank you!!
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May 29, 2019 at 7:53 am
churchmouse
You’re welcome.
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May 29, 2019 at 12:42 am
Jan Phillips
Thank you for telling me about U.K. elections. I was a little familiar with them, but nothing like you just explained!!
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May 29, 2019 at 7:54 am
churchmouse
It’s been a pleasure!
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May 29, 2019 at 1:36 am
daughnworks247
BOOKMARKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, churchmouse!
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May 29, 2019 at 7:56 am
churchmouse
You are most welcome, Daughn!
I’m delighted you are bookmarking the post. Many thanks!
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