An election was held in Spain on 26 May 2019 as part of the EU-wide election to elect the 9th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to the Spanish constituency as per the Treaty of LisbonâÂÂ59 after Brexit was formalized on 31 January 2020âÂÂwere up for election. It was held concurrently with regional elections in twelve autonomous communities and local elections all across Spain.
Held one month after the 28 April 2019 general election, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez scored a landslide victoryâÂÂas well as the first win for the party in a European Parliament election in 15 years, also with Josep Borrell as its main candidateâÂÂby achieving 32.9% of the share and 20 seats, a result which allowed it to become the largest national delegation within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Concurrently, the opposition People's Party (PP) suffered a severe setback and scored its worst result ever in a European Parliament election, but slightly improved on its general election results by achieving 20.2% of the vote and 12 seats. Citizens (Cs), which had integrated Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) within its lists ahead of the election, became the third most-voted party of the country, but at 12.2% and 7 seats it only slightly improved on the combined CsâÂÂUPyD results in 2014. Unidas Podemos Cambiar Europa (), the alliance of Podemos and United Left (IU) suffered a considerable drop from both parties' past results, being reduced to 10.1% and 6 seats. Far-right Vox performed well below expectations after disappointing results for the party in the 2019 general election, scoring 6.2% of the share and 3 seats.
Afterwards, and as a result of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union coming into effect on 31 January 2020, five additional seats were allocated to Spain's MEP delegation, which were re-distributed by granting one each to PSOE, PP, Cs, Vox and Junts according to their May 2019 election results.
Voting for the European Parliament in Spain was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals and resident non-national European citizens over 18 years of age and in full enjoyment of their political rights, provided that they were not sentencedâÂÂby a final court rulingâÂÂto deprivation of the right to vote. Additionally, non-resident citizens were required to apply for voting before being permitted to vote, a system known as "begged" voting ().
54 Parliament seats were allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Lisbon. All members were elected in a single multi-member constituencyâÂÂcomprising the entire national territoryâÂÂusing the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional voting system, with no electoral threshold being applied in order to be entitled to enter seat distribution. The use of the electoral method resulted in an effective threshold based on the district magnitude and the distribution of votes among candidacies.
The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacated seats; instead, any vacancies that occurred after the proclamation of candidates and into the legislative term were to be covered by the successive candidates in the list and, when required, by the designated substitutes.
The table below shows the composition of the Spanish delegation in the chamber at the time of the election call.
The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance ahead of an election were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within ten days of the election call. In order to be entitled to run, parties, federations, alliances and groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 15,000 registered electors; this requirement could be lifted and replaced through the signature of at least 50 elected officialsâÂÂdeputies, senators, MEPs or members from the legislative assemblies of autonomous communities or from local city councils. Electors and elected officials were disallowed from signing for more than one list of candidates. Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition.
Below is a list of the main parties and electoral alliances which contested the election:
The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.
The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font.
The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.
The following table lists the elected legislators: