Canarian voters abandon mainstream parties in Euro elections

Results show major swing to the left

by James Tweedie, Tenerife, Monday May 26 2014

European Parliament election results from the Canary Islands showed a marked swing to the left on Monday, with the big two parties unable to garner half the votes between them.

The conservative People's Party (PP), in government nationally, 'won' the May 25 elections with a mere 23 per cent of the vote on a 37 per cent turnout, while the social-democratic Socialist Workers' Party of Spain (PSOE) came a close second with 22 per cent.

The pro-business Canarian Coalition (CC), the largest party in the regional parliament, managed a paltry 12 per cent.

Left-wing parties made large gains. The United Left (IU, which includes the Communist Party of Spain), in alliance with the Greens, increased its total vote from almost 10,000 in 2009 to 59,000, a share of 10.5 per cent.

But the big surprise was Podemos ('We Can'), a new left-wing party only formed in January 2014 and led by academic Pablo Iglesias, which won 11 per cent of the vote in the Canaries.

The liberal, pro-EU Progress and Democracy Union (UPyD) came sixth with nearly 7 per cent of the vote, while the Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) was seventh with almost 2 per cent. The separatist Canarian National Alternative (ANC) polled a mere 0.6 per cent.

The Canarian poll broadly mirrored results nationwide. The PP won 16 of Spain's 54 European Parliament seats, with the PSOE a close second with 24. The Plural Left (as the IU-Green alliance is known) won six seats and Podemos 5.

Other left-wing parties won seats, including the Catalan separatist Left for the Right to Decide (EPDD) with two seats, the The People Decide (LPD), a Eurosceptic coalition of separatist parties including the ANC which won one seat, and the pro-EU eco-socialist European Spring, which also took one seat.

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