2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Broadcast campaign, Televised debates
The decision of to split the debate on 22 May, hosted by France 2 and France Inter, into two separate segments provoked consternation among those invited to the second part, as did the choice not to invite the lead candidates of three of the principal lists (Bellamy, Loiseau, and Bardella) but their party leaders (Wauquiez, Guerini, and Le Pen) instead. On 14 May, Brossat said he would file an appeal with the CSA to intervene in the debate, while Hamon castigated France Télévisions president Delphine Ernotte for the decision, with Lagarde, Dupont-Aignan, and Philippot also denouncing the arrangement.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Broadcast campaign, Televised debates
On 15 May, Hamon, Lagarde, and Dupont-Aignan held a joint press conference in front of the France Télévisions headquarters to announce that they would boycott the debate unless its format was modified, and Yahoo! later announced that the three would participate in a debate on its site before the debate that evening, hosted by Clément Viktorovitch. The LCI debate on 20 May was held in a similar fashion, with the first part dedicated to "small" lists and the later part of the evening reserved for the "main" ones.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Broadcast campaign, Televised debates
Meanwhile, doubts about her performance meant Loiseau would not appear at the debate hosted by France 2, but rather Bayrou, while some considered inviting Canfin to the LCI debate. On 19 May, both Canfin and Loiseau demanded that the three final debates feature live fact-checking in spite of logistical difficulties.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Other events
On 23 September 2018, the national congress of the Association of Rural Mayors of France (Association des maires ruraux de France, or AMRF) announced that they would refuse to directly transmit the results of the elections to the state on the night of the election to voice their discontent with the lack of attention given by the government to rural policy.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Other events
The 3 February 2019 edition of Le Journal du Dimanche revealed that Macron was interested in holding a referendum concurrent with the European elections on 26 May to conclude the grand débat national (great national debate) and end the gilets jaunes protests. The opposition, suspicious about the referendum's timing, expressed skepticism, and the idea also lacked support from members of the government.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Background, Other events
Following the Notre-Dame de Paris fire on 15 April, several parties briefly suspended their campaigns for the European elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Outgoing delegation
The table below shows the composition of the delegation of France to the European Parliament as of 3 May 2019. MEPs marked with an asterisk (*) are not standing as candidates; those marked with two asterisks (**) are candidates, but only in a clearly non-electable position near the end of electoral lists.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Summary
The table below is a summary of the main parties contesting the 2019 European elections in France.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Lutte Ouvrière
The leadership of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) initially voted in favor of a common list with Lutte Ouvrière (LO), with its national political council on 6 and 7 October 2018 voting 37–22 (with 5 abstentions and 10 non-participants) in favor of an alliance in the 2019 European elections; however, in November 2018, the parties acknowledged the failure to arrive to an agreement for a common list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Lutte Ouvrière
The annual party congress of Lutte Ouvrière on 8 and 9 December voted to present an autonomous list, with spokeswoman and former presidential candidate Nathalie Arthaud announcing that she would be its lead candidate. Arthaud said the party refused an alliance with the NPA because the interests of workers were not a priority for the latter, and because she did not want to run a campaign on "all the struggles that can be fought, from ecology to feminism".


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, French Communist Party
On 1 December 2017, Pierre Laurent, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), stated that he wanted to gather "the strongest possible left group" for the 2019 European elections, launching an appeal to Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise and Benoît Hamon of Génération.s. The national council of the PCF on 30 and 31 March approved the principle of a "common platform" including various left-wing groups as well as members of civil society and intellectuals, postponing discussion of electoral strategy.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, French Communist Party
On 3 June, Ian Brossat, deputy for housing to Socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, was selected as the leader of the PCF list. On 14 June, the PCF again called for a common list of the left in an open letter addressed to parties on the left, excluding the Socialist Party (PS). In December, Fabien Roussel, recently elected leader of the party, indicated that he did not necessarily support a common list given disagreements between left-of-centre parties, and indicated that an alliance with Hamon would only occur if Brossat led the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, French Communist Party
On 26 January, the PCF officially unveiled its list, voted on by party members from 31 January to 2 February. It includes two incumbent MEPs (Patrick Le Hyaric and Marie-Pierre Vieu), trade unionist Marie-Hélène Bourlard in second position (featured in the documentary film Merci patron! by sitting France Insoumise deputy François Ruffin), and is half composed of workers.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
At the convention of his movement on 25 November 2017, Jean-Luc Mélenchon announced that La France Insoumise would present a list in 2019, considering the elections a "referendum on the European question" to "break the chains, exit the European budgetary treaties". The movement negotiating an alliance with the Spanish party Podemos and the Portuguese Left Bloc in Lisbon on 12 April 2018. At the national level, Mélenchon continued to refuse any alliance with either Hamon's movement or the French Communist Party (PCF). He announced on 11 March 2018 that he himself would not be a candidate.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
The movement published an unordered list of candidates on 5 June, with Charlotte Girard and Manuel Bompard guaranteed spots as the presumptive list leaders, in first and second position, respectively, and Younous Omarjee as the sole incumbent MEP. The movement received 637 applications, of which 506 were submitted by men and 131 by women; the electoral committee then ensured the demographic parity of the applicants. The resulting list was then submitted feedback until July, when the list was ranked, with another nine spots on the list reserved for members of civil society and trade unions and associations. On 4 July, following a meeting of the electoral committee on 30 June, the movement published an updated list consisting of 66 candidates, with 13 spots reserved for members of civil society.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
The list produced by the electoral committee was met with criticism by dissatisfied activists, including Liêm Hoang-Ngoc of the "insubordinate Socialists", who "suspended" his movement's participation; former electoral committee member Lilian Guelfi, who denounced alleged favoritism by Manuel Bompard; and Sarah Soilihi and François Cocq, who withdrew their candidacies following its publication. Djordje Kuzmanovic later quit the movement in November following his removal from the list after sexist remarks. Nevertheless, the consultation of activists from 4 to 20 July resulted in its approval by 86.97% of participants. After Emmanuel Maurel and Marie-Noëlle Lienemann quit the PS in mid-October.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
the pair formed a new political party close to the Citizen and Republican Movement (MRC), the Republican and Socialist Left (GRS), in early 2019. On 15 October, MRC president Jean-Luc Laurent announced an alliance with Maurel and Lienemann to create a common list with La France Insoumise, with Maurel leaving the social democratic group in the European Parliament. In April 2019, political scientist Thomas Guénolé, in 14th position, accused La France insoumise of being "a dictatorship" : the party reacted by saying he was accused of sexual harassment and removed him from the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
On 15 November, Girard confirmed that she would neither lead the list nor be a candidate in 2019, and appeared to imply that she was sidelined. On 9 December, the movement officially voted to approve its list of 79 candidates and designate Manon Aubry, a 29-year-old tax evasion specialist and spokeswoman at Oxfam France, as its lead candidate. Manuel Bompard, campaign director, was second on the list, followed by Leïla Chaibi and outgoing MEP Younous Omarjee.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La France Insoumise
Emmanuel Maurel, who quit the PS for an alliance with the movement, appeared in sixth, with Mélenchon in the symbolic penultimate position and Girard last. According to Aubry, their list included several active gilets jaunes. As in the 2017 presidential campaign, the movement used holograms to hold virtual meetings in 471 small towns throughout France (via "holovans"). Unable to secure financing, Mélenchon called for supporters to participate in a "people's loan" to fund their campaign, collective 1.5 million euros within five days, and reaching 2 million euros by 10 April, with an average loan of 700 euros.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Génération.s
On 21 January 2018, Benoît Hamon announced alongside former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis of DiEM25 that Génération.s would contest the 2019 European elections. On 10 March, Hamon called for the creation of the "first pan-European transnational list" alongside Razem in Poland, The Alternative in Denmark, and LIVRE in Portugal, publishing a common manifesto in June.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Génération.s
Hamon sought to invite Élise Lucet, host of Cash Investigation on France 2, as a lead candidate, but was rebuffed. Audrey Pulvar was also contacted, but indicated that she was not interested, as was the case with Christiane Taubira. The movement communicated with the Greens and PCF, even if the possibility of an alliance between the three was unlikely, and Noël Mamère remained a possible "consensus candidate" in an alliance with the Greens, given his membership of both formations, but ruled out running on 25 June 2018. On 29 October, the movement launched a call for applications for prospective candidates from civil society, receiving between 300 and 400 applications. In mid-November 2018, incumbent MEP Édouard Martin confirmed that he would not seek a second term.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Génération.s
In an interview published in Le Monde on 6 December, Hamon confirmed that he would be the lead candidate of a "citizen alliance", and subsequently closed the door to an alliance with the PS on 7 January 2019, citing its membership of the Party of European Socialists (PES). Le Journal du Dimanche reported that top candidates would also include MEPs Guillaume Balas and Isabelle Thomas, ex-La France Insoumise member Sarah Soilihi, spokeswoman Aurore Lalucq, and community activist Salah Amokrane.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Génération.s
In an interview published in Le Monde in early February, Hamon proposed that the left hold a "citizen vote" in April to select a common list and program, though only New Deal, Les Radicaux de gauche (LRDG), and the Movement of Progressives (MdP) were receptive to the idea. Hamon then announced on 23 February that he would lead an independent list, revealing the first thirty candidates on the list on 26 February. Lalucq later quit, announcing on 18 March that she would join Place Publique. The movement indicated it was 600,000 euros short of financing its campaign, and considered soliciting donations via a "citizen bank".


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
Early on, a number of PS heavyweights declined to lead the list, including Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Pierre Moscovici, Stéphane Le Foll, Olivier Faure, Christiane Taubira, Paul Magnette, François Hollande, Bernard Cazeneuve, Ségolène Royal, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, and Christian Eckert. Julien Dray declared his candidacy, and Emmanuel Maurel was also reportedly approached to lead the list, and did not rule out the possibility at the time. On 8 October, Le Figaro reported that outgoing MEP Éric Andrieu was a candidate to lead the PS list, as was Christine Revault d'Allonnes, who announced her candidacy on 11 October. Gabrielle Siry, Ségolène Neuville, and Sylvie Guillaume were also considered potential list leaders.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
In preparation for the elections, the PS began drafting its platform in May 2018, launching a "digital collaborative platform", laruchesocialiste.fr, which only elicited 337 responses from 272 people in two months. Disagreements on the left wing of the party on the final form of the program persisted through September, despite commitments to create a left-wing and ecologist "intergroup" in the European Parliament, halt any new free trade treaties, and vote against the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
The text marked a new approach for the PS, arguing in favor of more social and environmental controls in trade agreements and a revision of the European treaties led by the left. Faure also affirmed that the PS would not support the candidacy of Frans Timmermans as Spitzenkandidat. In an interview with Le Monde published on 12 October, Maurel quit the PS and castigated its failure to represent socialism, soon followed by Marie-Noëlle Lienemann the following day, with the creating a new left-wing party associated with Citizen and Republican Movement (MRC) in 2019, the Republican and Socialist Left (GRS).


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
On 15 December 2018, at the ending of a meeting of the national council of the PS, Faure for the first time proposed that the party participate in a "rally" of forces on the left. After Royal ruled out standing as a candidate of a common list on 11 January, Faure indicated he would be ready to lead a PS list if necessary. Raphaël Glucksmann, who co-founded Place Publique in an effort to unite the left, was offered the position of lead candidate.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
On 13 February, the national office of the party approved of Faure's plans to seek an alliance with Place Publique, and Glucksmann officially announced his intention to lead a list in the European elections on 15 March, with the national council of the PS voting to designate Glucksmann as lead candidate the following day, with 128 votes in favor, 5 against, and 35 abstensions (including Stéphane Le Foll and Luc Carvounas). The list is composed of half PS candidates and half those of other parties and figures from civil society, marking the first time since 1979 the PS did not lead its own list in the European elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
New Deal officially announced its support for the list on 18 March 2019, as did ex-Génération.s spokeswoman Aurore Lalucq. After receiving 215 applications from party officials by 26 October 2018, the PS approved a list of 20 women and 20 men as candidates in the European elections on 27 March 2019, with 23 votes in favor and 11 against; Le Foll, Carvounas, Martine Aubry, and their allies expressed displeasure at the list, as did a number of candidates and outgoing MEPs, who denounced the diluted list (given the number of PS candidates in non-electable positions).


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Socialist Party, Place Publique, and Nouvelle Donne
After initially coming to an agreement, Virginie Rozière's Les Radicaux de gauche (LRDG) quit the list on 29 April, following pressure from their former PRG colleagues towards PS not to welcome the LRDG splitters while PRG was itself cancelling its merger into Macron-leaning Radical Movement. On 5 May, Le Parisien reported that Christiane Taubira would back the list, appearing alongside Glucksmann on 15 May.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
On 27 February 2018, MEP Yannick Jadot stated that EELV would seek to present an independent list in 2019. Both Jadot and fellow MEP Michèle Rivasi opposed a rapprochement with Hamon like that in the 2017 presidential election. Among outgoing MEPs, José Bové, Eva Joly, and Pascal Durand did not intend to seek a third mandate. Durand, a supporter of Nicolas Hulot, was seen as open to working with La République En Marche!, as was Karima Delli, despite her denial of any such intentions, and on 13 April, she expressed her desire to lead the EELV list. Durand, on the other hand, ultimately joined the La République En Marche list. Other candidates reportedly included David Cormand, Julien Bayou, Marie Toussaint, and Mounir Satouri. On 19 December, Ségolène Royal offered to join the EELV list in second position, but was rejected the following day.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
Given the difficulty in finding a potential list leader, Noël Mamère was named a possible "consensus candidate" in an alliance with Hamon, but later declined on 25 June. On 9 and 10 June, the federal council of the party agreed to put forth provisional lists to be submitted to a membership vote from 11 to 16 July, and the outlines of the party's plans for the 2019 elections were presented from 23 to 25 August.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
Two possible lists were created – one led by Jadot and the other by Rivasi – with the names of Damien Carême and Julien Bayou removed after later revisions. On 16 July, the party announced that Jadot won the vote with 58.69% of votes against 35.59% for Rivasi, and subsequently reaffirmed that he would not ally with Hamon again in the European elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
On 23 September, the EELV federal council agreed to place Damien Carême, mayor of Grande-Synthe, 3rd on the EELV list, and Alexis Tiouka, a former representative to the UN for the rights of indigenous peoples, later joined the list, becoming the first-ever Native American on a European electoral list. In an interview on 25 February 2019, Jadot announced the addition of regional councilor Benoît Biteau to the list in 11th position.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
Régions et Peuples Solidaires planned to contest the elections but left open the possibility of allying with the Greens, and on 16 February 2019 announced it was an alliance, with former MEP François Alfonsi as well as Lydie Massard and Anne-Marie Hautant joining the list. On 23 February, the Independent Ecological Alliance (AEI) duly announced that it reached an agreement with the EELV, with Caroline Roose and Salima Yenbou within the top 10 electable places on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Europe Ecology – The Greens
The Greens intend to target both ex-Socialists and disappointed Macron voters who view his government's policies as too right-wing. Jadot has sought to portray the EELV as neither left nor right but "central", attempting to represent a "pragmatic" German-style ecology and create an "ecologist pole" as opposed to the "productivist" and "populist" poles, saying that "ecology is not the left". The Greens, led by Jadot, also unveiled their plans for a "Green New Deal", a name borrowed from the American left, proposing dedicating 100 billion euros to investments in renewable energy and home insulation to achieve 100% electricity generation from renewables within 20 years.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
In March 2019, Les Échos reported that the choice of lead candidate was to be made internally between either health minister Agnès Buzyn or European affairs minister Nathalie Loiseau. Loiseau officially announced she would seek the nomination for lead candidate following her debate with Marine Le Pen on the set of L'Émission politique on 14 March, while Les Échos and Le Parisien later reported that Buzyn withdrew her name from consideration. Loiseau was officially designated as lead candidate on 26 March as the list of the first 30 candidates was unveiled. Alain Juppé was the subject of early speculation regarding his potential candidacy to lead the list, though confirmed on 19 March 2018 that he would not stand, and his appointment to the Constitutional Council precluded his participation in the campaign, but he indicated he would have supported Macron's list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
Other speculated list leaders included Édouard Philippe, François Bayrou, Nicolas Hulot, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Sylvie Goulard, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Arnaud Danjean, and Michel Barnier. Pierre Moscovici ruled out the possibility, as did Barnier, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Bayrou, Danjean, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and Thomas Pesquet. Outgoing Green MEP Karima Delli, ministers Marlène Schiappa and Brune Poirson, deputy Amélie de Montchalin, Pascal Canfin, head of the French section of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and former France Inter journalist Bernard Guetta were also considered potential candidates. Canfin declined to lead the list on 16 November, and in late January 2019, Laurence Tubiana, president of the European Climate Foundation and former COP21 negotiator, was mentioned as a possibility, as were Le Drian, sailor Maud Fontenoy, justice minister Nicole Belloubet, and Emmanuelle Wargon.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
On 17 December 2017, at the congress of the Democratic Movement (MoDem), Christophe Castaner said he supported an "enlarged list" for the European elections based on their alliance, and on 26 September 2018, the movement officially announced the opening of applications for prospective candidates from civil society, receiving 2,673 in total, winnowed by an investiture committee chaired by Jean-Marc Borello. Former Élysée advisor Stéphane Séjourné was designated campaign director on 29 October, tasked with creating a list alongside Agir, and seeking a lead candidate with a "green profile". For the MoDem, Bayrou selected Régis Lefebvre to serve as deputy campaign director.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
On 15 February, Challenges revealed that EELV MEP Pascal Durand would be on the list in an electable position and Séjourné in the top 25 places. The centre-right party Agir proposed several candidates for the list, including two in electable position: Nicolas Barnier (the son of Michel Barnier and a parliamentary assistant), as well as Fabienne Keller, Gilles Boyer, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier, and Xavier Fournier.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
In an interview published in Challenges on 6 February, Radical Movement co-president Laurent Hénart indicated that the movement would likely vote to join a common list, sparking dissent among some ex-PRG members including co-president Sylvia Pinel, who announced her departure from the party to resurrect the PRG on two days later. The candidates it proposed included outgoing MEP Dominique Riquet, Olga Johnson, and Mélanie Fortier.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
One outgoing MEP, Jean Arthuis, announced that he would not seek to run again in 2019, and Agir MEP Tokia Saïfi also retired, as did the party's other MEP Élisabeth Morin-Chartier after learning she would not be in electable position on the list. Foreign nationals were also be on the list, including former Italian undersecretary for European affairs Sandro Gozi. After declining to run as a lead candidate, Canfin ultimately appeared in second on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
La République En Marche considered alliances with similar European political parties including Citizens in Spain and the Democratic Party in Italy, as well as parties outside of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade was delegated with the task of forming contacts with potential European partners. On 9 September 2018, Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the ALDE group, claimed that La République En Marche would ally with ALDE, which Castaner denied.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
Reports in October indicated Macron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte reached an agreement in principle for an alliance, though Anglade emphasized that ALDE parties would merely serve as the foundation, with EPP parties on the right such as Civic Platform in Poland and New Democracy in Greece as well as PES parties on the left including the Democratic Party in Italy and the Social Democratic Party of Austria in consideration. The party considered recruiting MEPs to form a group after the election.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, La République En Marche and allies
Following the airing of a report on France 2 on 11 March about ALDE's financial backing from Monsanto, manufacturer of glyphosate, the party announced that it would not join the ALDE, leading the latter to announce it would no longer accept corporate donations. Verhofstadt later announced on 2 May that the ALDE group would be dissolved after the elections to ally and create a new group.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Union of Democrats and Independents
On 15 December 2018, Lagarde launched the party's campaign at its extraordinary congress, hoping to gain the support of pro-European voters who were not necessarily in favor of Macron's ideas on Europe. The party is also seeking to gain support from LR voters disillusioned by the hard-right political line of Wauquiez. Former LR vice president Virginie Calmels as well as general Pierre de Villiers were approached as potential candidates. However, Calmels later denied she was contacted and ruled out working with the UDI.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Union of Democrats and Independents
Xavier Bertrand planned to appear at the launch of the UDI congress remotely, but reiterated that he did not support a federal Europe did support the UDI list. The UDI list includes former MEP Nora Berra, an Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional councilor elected on the LR list who later quit the party to protest its hard-right positioning, in second position, as well as longtime centrist Louis Giscard d'Estaing, son of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, in third. While the party's sole remaining MEP Patricia Lalonde initially supported the principle of an independent list, she later urged the party to join the LR list, expressing support for Bellamy and Wauquiez; Lalonde did not seek another mandate in the elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Republicans
On 18 November, Le Journal du Dimanche reported that LR leader Laurent Wauquiez was considering 33-year-old Catholic philosopher François-Xavier Bellamy as a candidate to lead the LR list in 2019, though his political inexperience and conservative profile initially raised concerns. Wauquiez decided to submit three names to the CNI on 29 January, naming not only Bellamy but Agnès Evren and Arnaud Danjean as top candidates for the list, balancing the various strands of the party, with Evren close to Valérie Pécresse and Danjean a committed pro-European close to Alain Juppé.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Republicans
On 29 January, the CNI validated the nominations of Bellamy, Evren, and Danjean with 38 out of 40 votes. Other potential list leaders included Laurent Wauquiez, who declined, Virginie Calmels, Damien Abad, Nadine Morano, Jean Leonetti, Arnaud Danjean, Luc Ferry, Brice Hortefeux, Pierre de Villiers, Éric Woerth, Christian Jacob, Geoffroy Didier, Philippe Juvin, Michel Dantin, and Arnaud Danjean, though Leonetti declined, Ferry was uninterested, and Dantin decided instead to seek another term as mayor of Chambéry in 2020. Pécresse, Rachida Dati, and Michel Barnier also declined to lead the LR list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Republicans
In an interview published on 10 March 2018 in Le Journal du Dimanche, Thierry Mariani militated for an alliance with Le Pen, and was subsequently threatened with expulsion from the party; he ultimately joined the RN list. On 9 October, Wauquiez ruled out the possibility of alliances with Debout la France, La République En Marche!, or the National Rally in a letter addressed to Nicolas Dupont-Aignan. On 12 February 2019, Hervé Morin of The Centrists met with Wauquiez about a possible alliance for two out of the top 20 places on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Republicans
On 6 March, the LR national investiture committee designated the first 26 candidates on the list. Alexandre Vergnes, general secretary of Hunting, Fishing, Nature and Traditions (CPNT), was initially slated to appear in 13th – and later 15th – position, but was later demoted to 30th; ultimately, the party announced on 11 April that its candidates would be Martine Aury in 48th and Pascal Marie in 31st. Geoffroy Didier was appointed campaign director in March. Despite pressure from La République En Marche to support their list ahead of the 2020 municipal elections and implied threats not to support them in case of their refusal denounced by some as "blackmail", "Macron-compatible" mayors (including Arnaud Robinet and Christian Estrosi) largely backed Bellamy's list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Republicans
Among outgoing MEPs, Nadine Morano, Brice Hortefeux, Alain Cadec, Franck Proust, Geoffroy Didier, and Angélique Delahaye sought to stand as candidates, while Françoise Grossetête, Élisabeth Morin-Chartier, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Alain Lamassoure, Jérôme Lavrilleux, Renaud Muselier, and Maurice Ponga did not seek the party's investiture, with Rachida Dati also opting out in view of the 2020 municipal elections in Paris. Marc Joulaud and Philippe Juvin are also not running for another term.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Debout la France
On 19 January 2018, Europe 1 revealed that Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, leader of Debout la France, appeared to close the door to an alliance with the National Rally (RN) while still appealing for a "union of patriots" that could yet include members of the National Rally. On 20 March, the National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP) voted unanimously to join Dupont-Aignan's "The Lovers of France" (Les Amoureux de la France), a political formation including the Christian Democratic Party of Jean-Frédéric Poisson and mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Debout la France
On 31 May, the three figures of "The Lovers of France" presented a "common program" with president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group Ryszard Legutko in attendance, coinciding with the defection of FN MEP Bernard Monot to join DLF and the publication of an open letter from Le Pen inviting Dupont-Aignan to form a common list, which the latter subsequently rejected publicly. On 23 September, Dupont-Aignan officially announced that he intended to lead a "union list" of the right in the 2019 European elections, and DLF officially concluded its alliance with the ECR on 21 December.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Debout la France
RN MEP Sylvie Goddyn, who was expelled from the party on 19 October 2018 after indicating her support for Dupont-Aignan's initiative for a union list, initially planned to appear on the party's list, as did Poisson. According to a report in Le Figaro, Dupont-Aignan also sought to invite Jean Lassalle to lead his list but was rebuffed, as was the case with Thierry Mariani, who chose to join the RN list. Jeannette Bougrab also refused to join the list, while both Dupont-Aignan and Le Pen failed to recruit LR member Erik Tegnér.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Debout la France
DLF attempted to draft another LR figure, Malika Sorel, while UBS whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud became a candidate on the DLF list. On 11 February, L'Opinion reported that wealthy financier and writer Charles Gave would appear on the DLF list and provide the party with nearly 2 million euros in funding, while his daughter Emmanuelle Gave would also be on the list in an electable position. After Quotidien revealed the younger Gave's history of controversial tweets, DLF announced on 20 February that she would not be nominated, thus losing the elder Gave's guarantee of funding. Following the departure of the Gaves and denial of loans, the party relied on 1.2 million in funding via a "people's loan" from supporters, in addition to around 1 million euros provided by candidates on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Debout la France
On 28 March 2019, Dupont-Aignan unveiled the first 23 candidates on the list, excluding Poisson because of his alleged refusal to embrace a collective approach, with outgoing MEPs Monot and Goddyn also absent "by mutual agreement". Poisson reportedly threatened to launch his own list with Gave after being told he would appear in fifth position, rather than third as originally planned. Despite their participation in Les Amoureux de la France, Ménard and Nicolas Dhuicq ultimately supported the list of the RN.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, National Rally
According to a report in L'Obs on 22 November 2018, Jordan Bardella, the 23-year-old head of the party's youth wing Génération Nation, was favored by Le Pen to lead the list. and on 7 January 2019, Louis Aliot confirmed that Bardella would lead the party's list in the European elections after being confirmed unanimously by the members of the RN's leadership. Two LR members, former minister Thierry Mariani and Jean-Paul Garraud, as well as economist Hervé Juvin, appeared on the party's list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, National Rally
In addition, André Rougé, who advised Le Pen during the presidential campaign and another ex-UMP member, employed in the mayoral office of Jacques Chirac until 1995, was also on the list. A number of other lead candidates were considered but did not ultimately run. On 1 December 2017, Nicolas Bay announced that Marine Le Pen would not lead the party's list in 2019. Juvin was also considered a possibility, and on 12 October 2018, Aliot confirmed said he would seek to become lead candidate, but announced on 20 November that he would instead seek the mayoralty of Perpignan in the 2020 municipal elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, National Rally
On 13 December 2017, Le Pen claimed that she wanted an alliance with Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, president of Debout la France, and met with Dupont-Aignan the same day to discuss "a possible partnership", but was rebuked a month later, and subsequently published an open letter seeking an alliance on 31 May 2018, only to receive his rejection again on 3 June. RN MEP Sylvie Goddyn was expelled from the party on 19 October 2018 after indicating her openness to Dupont-Aignan's initiative for a union list on the right.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, National Rally
Le Pen campaigned with Bardella at public meetings on Saturday afternoons in 20 small communes over the course of a campaign, the cost of which is anticipated to be around 4 million euros, in addition to a single major campaign event in a regional capital on 1 May, with Hénin-Beaumont mayor Steeve Briois appointed campaign director.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, National Rally
Like La France Insoumise, the party launched an appeal for a "popular loan", soliciting donations from supporters in order to finance its campaign after being denied loans by French banks, and on 23 April announced that it raised 4 million euros using this scheme, which promised to repay lenders with 5% interest. Le Pen and Matteo Salvini plan to hold a joint campaign meeting in Italy in mid-May, likely in Milan on 18 May.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Patriots
On 23 November 2017, Florian Philippot announced that his movement, The Patriots (Les Patriotes), would present candidates in the 2019 European elections, fighting for the French exit from the European Union. The party had three MEPs, including Sophie Montel and Mireille d'Ornano, though Montel quit the party on 5 July 2018. Philippot launched the party's campaign for the European elections with the publication of his book Frexit, setting out his vision of Europe, in September 2018. Despite his hopes to build a cross-party list, his appeals to Henri Guaino, François Asselineau, and Jean Lassalle went unreciprocated.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Patriots
Lacking public financing, Philippot called for donations to help fund the party's campaign. As with other parties, the movement sought to recruit gilets jaunes onto its list, with Philippot seeking to register the name with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) as well. Philippot confirmed on 22 February that his party would have the financial means to contest the elections, saying that he would lead the list, followed by d'Ornano in second place. On 30 April, Philippot filed his list, which was joined by members of Jean-François Barnaba's list Jaunes et citoyens; Barnaba himself is ninth on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, The Patriots
On April 24, close to the deadline for filing of lists, Philippot publicly called for a common list with Asselineau; according to L'Opinion, he delegated Thibaud Lonjon with the task of soliciting an alliance, offering 300,000 euros in additional financing for the list (which had then already raised around 1.2 million euros). In addition to Asselineau, Philippot sought a last-minute alliance with Dupont-Aignan, this time offering 400,000 euros for the third spot on the list, but was again rejected, with Bertrand Dutheil de La Rochère confirming these approaches.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Popular Republican Union
On 18 November 2017, François Asselineau, founder of the Popular Republican Union (UPR), said at the party congress in Tours that he would "probably" be a candidate on the party's list in the 2019 European elections. Asselineau intends to leverage the party's online presence to help raise funds from its 32,000 members.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
In a press release on 29 April, Francis Lalanne announced that he would present a list under the banner of Alliance jaune on 30 April, having allied with the abortive RIC list now led by Jérémy Clément, with a financial guarantee of 800,000 euros from Jean-Marc Governatori, co-secretary of the Independent Ecological Alliance (AEI) – allied with the Greens – in order to ensure the list would be able to contest the elections. The list was led by Lalanne, with Sophia Albert-Salmeron in second and Clément in third position.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
This effort began following the publication of an open letter signed by Lalanne and Governatori, co-secretary of the Independent Ecological Alliance (AEI), on 7 December 2018 supporting the principle of a gilets jaunes list. On 17 December, Lalanne announced the launch of the Rassemblement gilet jaune citoyen list, though was opposed by many gilets jaunes who felt that he did not represent them.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
According to Le Figaro, Jean-François Barnaba was expected to be chosen as the lead candidate for this list, despite having once considered launching his own list, but on 22 March instead announced that he wanted to lead his own list, Jaunes et citoyens, which later allied with Philippot's list, The Patriots, with ten candidates in non-electable positions.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
On 3 March, Christophe Chalençon announced the creation of the Évolution Citoyenne (Citizen Evolution) list for the European elections. Though Chalençon is a notable figure of the movement, he  says the list is not a list of "yellow vests", even if most of its candidates are, but consists of members of civil society representing "citizens of the left and right".


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
Another list, Mouvement pour l'Initiative Citoyenne, which supports implementing the RIC at the national and European level, was selected by drawing lots, though it existed long before the movement, with its foundation in 2006 and presence in the 2009 elections. Yvan Bachaud, spokesman for the list (led by Gilles Helgen), reiterated on 6 May that the list has no connection to the gilets jaunes movement, and is only focused on supporting the RIC.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Present lists
Other parties ultimately included gilets jaunes on their lists, including the French Communist Party (PCF) with three, two present on the pro-Frexit Popular Republican Union (UPR) list led by François Asselineau, and right-wing activist Benjamin Cauchy in 9th position for Debout la France (DLF), of which he was already a member and spokesperson.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
On 4 December 2018, amid the gilets jaunes protests, Jean-François Barnaba announced that he intended to prepare a list of gilets jaunes to contest the European elections in 2019. On 10 December, Hayk Shahinyan announced that he would also attempt to constitute a list. Christophe Chalençon, one of the leaders of the "free" gilets jaunes, also supported the ambition of presenting a list in the European elections. Shahinyan's association, Gilets Jaunes, le mouvement, was the best-organized group, with 85,000 euros and 14,000 members.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
On 23 January, the group announced in a press release that they would present a list called Ralliement d'initiative citoyenne (RIC, or Citizens' Initiative Rally, referencing the acronym of the proposed referendum desired by many gilets jaunes) led by Ingrid Levavasseur, a 31-year-old nurse assistant, and also revealed the first 10 names on the list, with the remaining spots open to applications. Shahinyan was chosen as campaign director. The announcement of a list provoked largely negative reactions among other gilets jaunes, many of whom were skeptical and considered them opportunists.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
Marc Doyer, eighth on the list, was revealed to have previously supported Macron, and withdrew from the list on 28 January. Shahinyan also stepped down as campaign director, citing doubts. On 31 January, Brigitte Lapeyronie, ex-UDI member and trade unionist, also announced that she would not stand as a candidate due to personal reasons. Barnaba, who hoped to lead his own list, also quit.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
On 13 February, Levavasseur announced that she would quit the RIC list, a week after a controversial meeting with Luigi Di Maio, and announced on RTL on 11 March that she would not attempt to present a list. Two others on the list, Côme Dunis and Ayouba Sow, confirmed their departure from the initiative on 26 February. Jérémy Clément said that he would be ready to be lead candidate for the list unless a "more legitimate" candidate emerged. On 5 April, Frédéric Mestdjian, spokesman for the RIC list, said that he expected to arrive at an alliance with "two or three" other lists of yellow vests within weeks, working with Lalanne's list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
On 29 January, a gilet jaune leader from Nice, Patrick Cribouw, announced his intention to present a list in the European elections under the banner of Union jaune. Spokesman Fréderic Ibanez claimed the list already had around 40 candidates and would attempt to remain apolitical in terms of its composition. Appearing on BFM TV on 2 March, Cribouw claimed the list was complete and called for alliances with Mouraud, Levavasseur, and Valette.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
On 1 February, Thierry Paul Valette announced the creation of a European election list under the banner of the Rassemblement des Gilets jaunes citoyens, claiming to have already chosen 10 candidates, after having quit Lalanne's initiative, but subsequently announced on 26 April that he would not present a list. Shahinyan and Chalençon announced their intention to create the mouvement alternatif citoyen (MAC) and hold a member vote in March to decide whether to present a list. For her part, Jacline Mouraud launched a party, Les Émergents, on 27 January, and reiterated her intention not to present a list in the European elections but the 2020 municipal elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Gilets jaunes, Abortive lists
Many of Macron's supporters considered gilets jaunes lists desirable, given that an internal poll suggested that such a list would siphon votes from the opposition and increase turnout by engaging traditional abstentionists, paradoxically strengthening Macron as a result. Others, however, warned that an electoral transformation of the movement could result in a French Five Star Movement.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Absent lists, New Anticapitalist Party
While the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) initially sought to ally with Lutte Ouvrière (LO), with its national political council of 6 and 7 October 2018 approving of the principle of an alliance by a 37–22 vote (with 5 abstentions and 10 non-participants), talks broke down in November 2018. On 28 January, the NPA indicated that it would attempt to present a list despite its serious financial difficulties, soliciting donations from its members, with its leadership deciding on 24 March whether to contest the European elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Absent lists, New Anticapitalist Party
On 18 February, the party reiterated its desire to be present in the elections, requiring a million euros to ensure its ability to do so. The NPA ultimately announced on 25 March that it would not present a list in 2019, lacking the financial means to do so, and called on its supporters to vote for Lutte Ouvrière.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Absent lists, Résistons!
In an interview published in Valeurs actuelles on 3 May 2018, former presidential candidate Jean Lassalle announced his intention to present a list under the banner of his movement Résistons! in the European elections, hoping to defend the "territories and rurality" from the "European supranationalism, globalization and hypercapitalism". He voted "no" in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty referendum as well as the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution and opposed the Treaty of Lisbon in 2008. He intended to create a list composed of local mayors, farmers, business executives, and professionals inadequately represented in politics. On 6 March 2019, Lassalle indicated he had about a "quarter" of the 800,000 to 1 million euros needed to finance the campaign, and ultimately announced on 11 April 2019 that he would not present a list in the European elections, lacking sufficient funding.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Other electoral lists
On 23 November 2018, Delphine Batho of Ecology Generation confirmed that she intended to present a list, and on 18 March 2019, she confirmed alongside Antoine Waechter of the Independent Ecological Movement (MEI) that Dominique Bourg would lead their Urgence Écologie list, also supported by the Movement of Progressives (MdP), as well as a significant contingent of the Union of Democrats and Ecologists (UDE).


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Other electoral lists
The Animalist Party presented a list in the elections led by Hélène Thouy, with several notable candidates including journalist Henry-Jean Servat and Sylvie Rocard, wife of the late former prime minister Michel Rocard, as well as backing from numerous film and television personalities, and former MEP Michèle Striffler in 11th position.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Electoral lists, Other electoral lists
Other lists include the monarchist and anti-EU Alliance Royale list led by Robert de Prévoisin; La ligne claire, a far-right identitarian list led by Renaud Camus, known for promoting the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, with Karim Ouchikh, president of Souveraineté, Identité et Libertés (SIEL), in third position; the list of the Pirate Party, a pro-transparency pirate party led by Florie Marie; Démocratie représentative, a far-left list led by Hadama Traoré emanating from the citizen collective La révolution est en marche; Parti des citoyens européens (PACE), led by Audric Alexandre, which calls for a federal Europe; the Liste de la reconquête, the list of the extreme-right party Dissidence française (DF) led by the 30-year-old Vincent Vauclin, which includes a number of ex-RN candidates; the European Federalist Party (PFE), a federalist party led by its president Yves Gernigon; Allons Enfants, a pro-European "party of youth" consisting entirely of candidates under 30 and led by 22-year-old Sciences Po graduate Sophie Caillaud; Décroissance 2019, a pro-degrowth and radical ecologist list led by Thérèse Delfel; À voix égales, a feminist list led by Nathalie Tomasini, former lawyer for Jacqueline Sauvage; Neutre et actif, a list led by Cathy Denise Ginette Corbet to "fight against abstention" in the elections; the far-left Parti Révolutionnaire Communistes, a split from the PCF, led by national secretary Antonio Sanchez; Espéranto - langue commune équitable pour l'Europe, the list of Europe Démocratie Espéranto (EDE), led by Pierre Dieumegard, which calls for the designation of Esperanto as an official language; Les Oubliés de l'Europe, a list led by Olivier Bidou to defend the interests of "artisans, tradespeople, liberal professions, and the self-employed"; the Union Démocratique Pour La Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (UDLEF), a centre-right federalist list consisting mostly of African immigrants led by business leader Christian Luc Person; and Une Europe au service des peuples, the list of the Union des démocrates musulmans français (Union of French Muslim Democrats, UDMF) led by Najib Azergui, which was validated after a delay due to incomplete paperwork.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Election platforms
The table below is a summary of the platforms of the principal electoral lists in the European elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Results
On 4 May 2019, the names of 33 official electoral lists, validated by the Ministry of the Interior, were published in the Journal officiel de la République française, with their order determined by drawing lots. A 34th list entitled Une Europe au service des peuples, representing the Union des démocrates musulmans français (Union of French Muslim Democrats, UDMF) led by Najib Azergui, was later validated by the Ministry of the Interior after an initial delay, due to a lack of written consent from several candidates on the list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Results
In all, a total of 2,686 candidates were represented on these 34 lists, the number of which surpasses the previous record of 20 at the national level in the 1999 elections and the average of 24 lists per constituency in the 2014 elections.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Results
Lacking the financial means to do so, most minor electoral lists were unable to distribute ballot papers at every polling site, instead requiring voters to print their own ballots published online; others, like the Pirate Party, only printed a fraction of ballots for each polling station, with those in particularly favorable areas targeted for ballots, to cut costs. Due to the Article 50 extension granted to the United Kingdom, 79 MEPs will be considered to have been officially elected, but only 74 will initially take their seats, with 5 "virtual" MEPs to take their seats upon the departure of the UK from the EU.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Results
Comparisons for 2019 results for Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) are made with the combined score it received in 2014 of 8.95%, the Independent Ecological Alliance (AEI) with 1.12%, and Régions et Peuples Solidaires (R&PS) with 0.34% (representing 10.41% in total); for the Socialist Party (PS) common list including Place Publique and New Deal, with its score in 13.98% as well as that of New Deal with 2.90% (representing 16.88% in total); the score of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) is compared to his number of seats in The Alternative  in 2014; and for the French Communist Party (PCF), his number of seats within the Left Front electoral alliance (including the Union for the Overseas).


2019 European Parliament election in France, Results, Elected MEPs
Five MEPs were formally considered to have been elected in the elections, but will not take their seats pending the departure of the UK from the EU.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Turnout, up by 7.7 points compared to the previous European elections, was the highest since the 1994 elections. The results of the election were a confirmation of the establishment of the National Rally and La Republique En Marche as the two strongest political forces, between them leading in every single department. Although it fell relative to 2014, elevated turnout also meant the RN also attained a new record vote total in the European elections. Pre -election polls failed to capture both the rise of the Greens and abysmal result of The Republicans.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Even if surveys in the closing weeks uniformly reflected an increase in estimated turnout, that alone did not explain the discrepancy between polls and the final result. Frédéric Dabi, deputy director general of the polling institute Ifop, admitted that pollsters missed the result, while Brice Teinturier, deputy managing director at Ipsos, suggested that the LR vote was more fragile than immediately visible, with their electorate less firm and many placing Loiseau's list as their second choice; the same was true for La Republique En Marche, with 17% of its backers then considering a vote for the Greens.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Teinturier suggested that there had been a "double transfer" in votes in the closing weekend during the polling ban, with LR supporters moving Loiseau's list to prevent the RN from a first-place finish, the Greens depriving votes from the En Marche list, and a porous Socialist electorate compatible with both. Surveys indicated that nearly a quarter of voters made their choice only in the weekend before, with over half of EELV voters deciding within the last week alone, while retirees, who traditionally make up the LR vote, instead voted for the Renaissance list.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
The results of the European elections in France were also viewed with interest for their potential implications in the upcoming municipal elections in 2020. In Paris, the Renaissance list came first with 33% of the vote, followed by the Greens with just under 20%, LR with a catastrophic score of just 10%, the Socialists on 8%, RN on 7%, and Mélenchon's France Insoumise on only 5%.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Despite the overall vote share of the LREM list remaining relatively stable compared to Macron's result in 2017, the massive increase in support in the wealthier western arrondissements and decrease in support everywhere else in the city reflected the changing nature of its electoral base with the loss of its left flank. Even in Marseille, a stronghold of the right, the LR list received only 8% of the vote, whereas the National Rally led with just over 26% and the list backed by Mélenchon with just over 8% in his electoral fief.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
In reaction to the results, the Élysée claimed that it perceived the outcome as a "disappointment", but "not a defeat", while pointing to EELV's strong showing as reflecting strong support for ecological issues which it had made central to the campaign, with no change in direction expected from the government. Interpretations of the RN's score were also qualified, described as a "victory but not a triumph", falling short of the 25% mark in late polls, matching its usual electoral results and marking a slight decrease from its share of the vote from 2014.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Speaking after the RN's victory, Le Pen called for the immediate dissolution of the National Assembly after the "democratic rejection" of Macron with his list's second-place finish. For his part, Benoît Hamon decided to take time to reflect upon his next steps and to try to assist in uniting the left after his movement, Génération.s, fell short and failed to secure any seats.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
Despite implicit pressure on him to step down after overseeing the worst result for the right in its history, Laurent Wauquiez initially sought to remain at the helm of The Republicans, proposing an "Estates General" to update the party's strategy and propositions.


2019 European Parliament election in France, Aftermath and analysis
The results were also a major disappointment for Mélenchon's France Insoumise with a score just over 6%, only narrowly ahead of the PS/Place Publique list, cut in third compared to the 2017 presidential election; like LR, it was also potentially a victim of tactical voting, potentially due to a strategic failure in framing the election as an anti-Macron referendum. Wauquiez ultimately announced his resignation as president of The Republicans a week later, on 2 June.


2019 European Parliament election in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
The European Parliament election of 2019 took place in Italy on 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Friuli-Venezia Giulia
In Friuli-Venezia Giulia Lega Nord came first with 42.6% of the vote (country-level result 34.3%) and more than 20pp than the Democratic Party, which came second with 22.2%. The Five Star Movement came third with 9.6%, ahead of Brothers of Italy (7.6%), Forza Italia (6.7%), More Europe (3.0%), Green Europe (3.0%) and The Left (1.6%). The South Tyrolean People's Party, which included one candidate from the Slovene Union, reached 38.9% in San Floriano del Collio.


2019 European Parliament election in Germany
The 2019 European Parliament election in Germany were held on 26 May 2019, electing the 96 members of the national Germany constituency to the European Parliament. Both the CDU/CSU and SPD suffered major losses, while the Greens became the second largest party in a national-level election for the first time in German history.


2019 European Parliament election in Germany, Background
The 2019 European Parliament election was first national election to be held in Germany since the 2017 federal election, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats suffered major losses, while the right-wing, Eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered parliament in third place. In 2018, the Greens and the AfD made large gains in state elections in Bavaria and Hesse, with the Greens moving into second place in each, whilst the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats each suffered 10+ point swings. Federal polling saw the Greens take a consistent lead over the SPD since October.


2019 European Parliament election in Germany, Electoral threshold
Since the 2014 European Parliament election, Germany does not have a formal threshold of the vote share required in order for a party to win an EP seat. This has allowed a number of smaller parties to gain representation, since they only have to reach about 0.5% of the vote share needed to get their first seat with the Webster/Sainte-Laguë method.


2019 European Parliament election in Germany, Electoral threshold
Although the European Council had recommended that countries with greater than 35 MEPs should introduce a threshold between 2–5%, the German government abandoned its plans for a 2% threshold in November 2018.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar
The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar was a part of the European Parliament constituency combined region of South West England. Elections were held in Gibraltar on 23 May 2019 as part of the EU-wide elections after the date of EU withdrawal was delayed by the UK Government.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Background
Gibraltar's European Union Withdrawal Act was passed in March 2019 with the support of the governing GSLP–Liberal coalition and an independent MP. The opposition Gibraltar Social Democrats originally did not intend to support the bill but later voted for it, but against parts of the legislation.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Background
The withdrawal agreement is supported by the governing GSLP-Liberal coalition, but opposed by the opposition Gibraltar Social Democrats.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Background
According to the Gibraltar newspaper Panorama, there had been a rise in Euroscepticism in Gibraltar since Spain was given a veto by the EU over Gibraltar's participation in the withdrawal agreement.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Campaign
Candidates from the Brexit Party, Liberal Democrats, English Democrats and UKIP visited Gibraltar to campaign in the elections. The Liberal Democrat lead candidate for the constituency accepted that there was "anger and frustration" with regards to the EU's actions towards Gibraltar after the referendum result, but stated that she felt the party's anti-Brexit message was being received well.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Campaign
Brexit Party candidate, James Glancy expressed concerns over the ramifications for Gibraltar of European federalisation, the Common Security and Defence Policy and influence of Spanish politicians in the EU in the event that Brexit does not happen.


2019 European Parliament election in Gibraltar, Result
The result was a win for the Liberal Democrats, reflecting "clearly pro-EU and pro Remain" sentiment and with the Brexit Party taking second place, which "reflects not just frustration with the stagnated Brexit process, but also anger at the way the EU has backed Spain during the withdrawal negotiations", according to the Gibraltar Chronicle.


2019 European Parliament election in Greece
The 2019 European Parliament election in Greece was held on 26 May 2019, electing members of the Greek delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union. In Greece, it was held in tandem with the first round of the local and regional government elections, resulting in a major defeat for the governing Syriza party, and forcing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to bring forward the scheduled legislative election for 7 July 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary
The European Parliament election, 2019 for the election of the delegation from Hungary to the European Parliament was held on 26 May 2019,electing the 21 members of the Hungary delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Date of the vote
European Parliament Elections are held every five years in the European Union. The vote had to take place from 23 to 26 May 2019, but the member states could set the exact date. Since Hungarian law states elections can only take place on a Sunday, the only possible date was 26 May 2019. Accordingly, President János Áder announced on 4 March 2019 that the vote would be held on 26 May.


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Background, Fidesz
During early 2019, the Hungarian government launched a poster campaign targeting European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. The government campaign accuses Juncker and Soros of wanting “to weaken member states’ rights to protect their own borders” and claims “they want …migrants’ visas”. Due to the poster campaign, some members of the European People's Party (EPP), which the Hungarian governing party Fidesz is a member of, started moves to remove it from the group.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, called those who were calling for his removal from the EPP "Useful idiots".” In response to the political ad campaign, Manfred Weber, Spitzenkandidat of the EPP demanded Orbán apologize for and renounce the criticism levied against the EU by him and his party or face Fidesz's suspension from the EPP.


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Background, Fidesz
On 20 March 2019, the European People's Party voted to suspend the membership of Fidesz citing its anti-immigration stance, and personal attacks on Jean-Claude Juncker and George Soros. Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended.


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Parties contesting
According to election law, Hungary consists of a single election district and all parties that collect 20,000 valid signatures from eligible citizens are put on the ballot. By the deadline (23 April 2019, 16:00), eleven parties or party alliances had submitted signature lists. Of those, two parties were refused registration, lacking a sufficient number of valid signatures : the United Hungarian National People's Party (EMNP) and the Tea Party Hungary (TPM). Nine qualified lists were approved by the National Election Committee (NVB) to be put on the ballot, of which two of them are shared lists. All parties represented in the Országgyűlés participated in the election, in addition to four extra-parliamentary parties. The parties appeared on the ballot papers in the following randomly drawn order:


2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Analysis
These elections marked the change of balance in Hungarian politics. Although Fidesz-KNDP remained largest and dominant party, but MSZP and Jobbik were replaced by Democratic Coalition and Momentum Movement as leading opposition parties. LMP was wiped off from political sphere. The results of the European elections in Hungary were also viewed with interest for their potential implications in the upcoming local elections in 2019. András Bódis of Válasz Online noted possibility that in some municipalities joint opposition candidates can defeat Fidesz-KNDP candidates.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland
The 2019 European Parliament election in Ireland is the Irish component of the 2019 European Parliament election and was held on Friday, 24 May 2019, on the same day as the 2019 local elections and a referendum easing restrictions on divorce. The election was conducted in three constituencies under the single transferable vote (STV). Thirteen MEPs were elected, but the last candidate elected in both Dublin and South did not take their seats until after Brexit on 31 January 2020.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
The United Kingdom invoked Article 50 to withdraw from the European Union on 29 March 2017 following the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. As Article 50 has a two-year period for withdrawal, the United Kingdom would not be part of the 2019 European Parliament election scheduled for May 2019. In July 2018, the European Council made a decision to redistribute a number of the seats from the United Kingdom to other member states.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
The allocation of MEPs from Ireland increased from 11 to 13; however, this change would not take effect until the United Kingdom has left the EU, which took place on 31 January 2020. As the United Kingdom was still a member of the EU at the beginning of the 2019–2024 parliamentary term, the allocation of seats will remain as it was in the previous parliament, until its withdrawal becomes legally effective.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
A Constituency Commission chaired by High Court judge Robert Haughton was established by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in July 2018 to redraw constituencies in line with the change in seats. The Commission's report was published on 24 September 2018 and proposed the following changes:


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
The European Parliament Elections (Amendment) Act 2019 enacted the changes recommended by the Constituency Commission.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
It also provided for the situation that Ireland's representation remained at 11 with an amendment to the rules, "For the purpose of the European elections held in the year 2019, the return made by the chief returning officer […] shall declare that the last candidate deemed to be elected […] in each of the constituencies of Dublin and South as specified in the Third Schedule, shall not take up their seats in the European Parliament until such time as a date has been specified by the Parliament for the taking up of such seats".


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Constituency changes
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had incorrectly suggested that the votes would be counted twice in the constituencies which had an increased number of seats, to account for either contingency. However, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy later clarified that there would be only one count for each constituency, and that the final candidate to be deemed elected in Dublin and South would not take their seats until the withdrawal of the United Kingdom.


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, Candidates
Nominations closed at midday on 15 April 2019, with 59 candidates in total: 19 in Dublin (4 seats), 17 in Midlands–North-West (4 seats) and 23 in South (5 seats).


2019 European Parliament election in Ireland, European alliances
Independents 4 Change was not affiliated to a parliamentary group at the time of the election, but joined European United Left–Nordic Green Left group.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy
The 2019 European Parliament election in Italy were held on 26 May 2019, electing members of the 9th Italian delegation to the European Parliament as part of the European elections held across the European Union.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Electoral system
The party-list proportional representation was the traditional electoral system of the Italian Republic from its establishment in 1946 to 1994, therefore it was also adopted to elect the Italian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) since 1979.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Electoral system
Two levels were introduced: a national level to divide the seats among parties and a constituency level to distribute them among candidates in open lists. Five constituencies were established, each including 2–5 regions and each electing a fixed number of MEPs. At national level, seats are divided between party lists using the largest remainder method with Hare quota. Seats are allocated to parties and then to their most voted candidates.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Electoral system
In the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament election, the Italian Parliament introduced a national threshold of 4%. An exception was granted for parties representing some linguistic minorities as such lists can be connected with one of the major parties, combining their votes, provided that those parties reach the 4% threshold and that candidates from minority parties obtain a sufficient number of votes, no less than 50,000 for the main candidate.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Background
In 2014, the governing Democratic Party (PD) of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won the election with 40.8% of the vote and 31 seats, followed by the Five Star Movement (M5S) with 21.2% and 17 seats and Forza Italia (FI) with 16.8% and 13 seats. As a result, the PD was the second largest national party in the European Parliament by number of seats after the German CDU/CSU and the largest among the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The PD's score was also the best result for an Italian party in a nationwide election since the 1958 general election, when the Christian Democracy (DC) won 42.4% of the vote.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Background
However, after less than three years from the 2014 electoral landslide, Renzi was forced to resign after the defeat in the constitutional referendum and his foreign affairs minister Paolo Gentiloni was appointed new head of government in December 2016. Moreover, the 2018 general election was characterized by a strong showing of populist parties.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Background
The centre-right coalition, led by Matteo Salvini's right-wing League, emerged with a plurality of seats in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate while the anti-establishment M5S led by Luigi Di Maio became the party with the largest number of votes; and Renzi's centre-left came only third, with the worst electoral result of its history. However, no political group or party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung parliament. After three months of negotiation, a government was finally formed on 1 June by the M5S and the League, with the M5S-linked independent Giuseppe Conte as Prime Minister and Di Maio and Salvini Deputy Prime Ministers.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Background
In March 2019, Nicola Zingaretti was elected secretary of the PD. In April, Zingaretti presented a special logo for the election, including a large reference to "We Are Europeans", a manifesto launched by Carlo Calenda; and the symbol of the Party of European Socialists (PES). Additionally, the PD is trying to forge an alliance with the Article One (Art.1) and minor parties. March and April registered more developments on the centre-left side of the political spectrum.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Background
Under the new leadership of Benedetto Della Vedova, More Europe (+Eu) formed a joint list with Italia in Comune (IiC), the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), the Italian Republican Party (PRI), the Italian section of the European Democratic Party (EDP), the Liberal Democratic Alliance for Italy (ALI) and minor parties; Italian Left (SI), the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC), minor parties and individual splinters from the disbanded Free and Equal (LeU) formed The Left (LS), a joint list inspired by the Party of the European Left (PEL); and the Federation of the Greens (FdV), Possible (Pos) and Green Italy (GI) formed Green Europe (EV) under the banner of the European Green Party (EGP). On the centre-right side, FI welcomed in its lists candidates of the Union of the Centre (UdC) and several alike minor parties while Brothers of Italy (FdI) formed a partnership with Direction Italy (DI) and minor groups.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Main parties and leaders, Outgoing MEPs
The table shows the detailed composition of the Italian seats at the European Parliament before 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Main parties and leaders, Summary of parties
This is a list of the main parties which participated in the election and were polled in most opinion surveys.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Main parties and leaders, Top candidates
In the following table, the top candidates of each party/list in the five constituencies are listed.


2019 European Parliament election in Italy, Opinion polling
Poll results are listed according to the date of publication of the survey. Detailed data are usually published in the official website of the Italian government. The publication of opinion polls during the last 15 days of the electoral campaign is forbidden by Italian law.


2019 European Parliament election in Latvia
The 2019 European Parliament election in Latvia is the election of the delegation from Latvia to the European Parliament in 2019. The previous elections were held in 2014.


2019 European Parliament election in Latvia
The election uses the Sainte-Laguë method, which is weighted against the larger parties. That explains why, according to the results of one opinion poll, parties with 6% of the vote would be allocated one seat each, while a party with 17% of the vote would also be allocated only one seat.


2019 European Parliament election in Lithuania
The European Parliament election of 2019 in Lithuania was held on 26 May 2019 to elect delegation from Lithuania to the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2019 European election. The second round of the 2019 Lithuanian presidential election took place at the same time.


2019 European Parliament election in Lithuania, Results
The Homeland Union received the most votes (19.74 per cent) and most seats (3), although it won only in 12 (or just over one-fifth of) municipalities. The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania received 15.88 per cent of the votes and 2 seats. This party won in 35 municipalities. The Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union received 12.56 per cent of the votes and 2 seats. This party won in 6 municipalities. The Labour Party received 8.99 per cent of the votes and won 1 seat. This party won in 1 municipality.


2019 European Parliament election in Lithuania, Results
Although Order and Justice and the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania failed to win seats, these parties managed to obtain two municipalities (one municipality for each party).


2019 European Parliament election in Lombardy
The European Parliament election of 2019 took place in Italy on 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Lombardy
In Lombardy Lega Nord came first with 43.4% of the vote (country-level result 34.3%) and more than 20pp than the Democratic Party, which came second with 23.1%. The Five Star Movement came third with 9.3%, ahead of Forza Italia (8.7%), Brothers of Italy (5.5%), More Europe (3.1%), Green Europe (2.5%) and The Left (1.3%).


2019 European Parliament election in Luxembourg
Elections for the 2019 European Parliament election in Luxembourg were held on 26 May 2019. Ten parties contested the election for Luxembourg's six seats in the European Parliament.


2019 European Parliament election in Luxembourg
The Democratic Party won the highest percentage of the vote with 21.4 %. These elections were first, in which this party managed to lead in Luxembourg-wide elections. Also these elections were the first, in which the Christian Social People's Party lost to the Democratic Party in Luxembourg-wide elections.


2019 European Parliament election in Luxembourg, Electoral system
The six representatives to the European Parliament are elected in a single constituency, similar to in elections for the Chamber of Deputies. Each voter could either select a party list or distribute six votes (with up to two to a single candidate), with the final seat tally calculated by a Hagenbach-Bischoff quota.


2019 European Parliament election in Luxembourg, Electoral system
In addition to Luxembourgish citizens, voting was open to European Union citizens resident in Luxembourg. Voting is compulsory for all eligible enrolled voters who are under 75 years of age.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta
The 2019 European Parliament election was held in Malta on 25 May 2019. 8 different political parties took part in the election, of which, only 2  won seats in the European Parliament; the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, with 4 and 2 seats respectively.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Alleanza Bidla
Ivan Grech Mintoff and Rebecca Dalli Gonzi contested on behalf of Alleanza Bidla. a conservative Christian and Eurosceptic party.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Brain, Not Ego
Antoine P. Borg contested on behalf of fledgling political party Brain, Not Ego.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Democratic Alternative
Democratic Alternative announced the approval of its 3 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Arnold Cassola, Mina Tolu and Carmel Cacopardo. In the wake of a dispute regarding the topic of abortion, Cassola resigned from Democratic Alternative and contested the EP election as an independent candidate.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Democratic Party
The Democratic Party announced the approval of its 4 European parliamentary election candidates, They were: Martin Cauchi Inglott, Anthony Buttigieg, Godfrey Farrugia and Camilla Appelgren.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Imperium Europa
Norman Lowell announced that he would once again contest the European parliamentary election after Imperium Europa was officially registered with the Electoral Commission.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Independents
Arnold Cassola announced that he would contest the European parliamentary election as an independent candidate. Stephen Florian announced that he would contest as an Independent candidate after resigning from the executive of the Moviment Patrijotti Maltin. Other independent candidates included Nazzareno Bonnici (Partit Ta' L-Ajkla), Mario Borg and Joseph Aquilina.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Labour Party
The Labour Party announced the approval of its 14 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Alfred Sant, Mary Gauci, Lorna Vassallo, Robert Micallef, Cyrus Engerer, Alex Agius Saliba, Felix Busuttil, Miriam Dalli, James Grech, Joe Sammut, Josianne Cutajar, Fleur Vella, Noel Cassar and Josef Caruana.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Moviment Patrijotti Maltin
Simon Borg and Naged Magelly contested on behalf of Moviment Patrijotti Maltin, an offshoot of the anti-immigration group Għaqda Patrijotti Maltin led by Henry Battistino which campaigns against irregular migration, Malta's participation in the Schengen Area, and Islam in Malta.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Contesting Parties, Nationalist Party
The Nationalist Party announced the approval of its 10 European parliamentary election candidates. They were: Roberta Metsola, David Casa, Francis Zammit Dimech, Peter Agius, Dione Borg, Michael Briguglio, Frank Psaila, Roselyn Borg Knight, Michael Mercieca and David Stellini.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Opinion polls, Expressing a preference
The values in the table below are derived by removing non-party responses (i.e. non-voters and "don't know"); as the margin is also recalculated, there may be slight differences in exact lead margins due to rounding.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Results
Shortly after the first exit polls were announced, it was thought that Labour Party had a majority of 51,600 votes over the Nationalist Party, but this was later decreased to 42,656 after the official results came out. Although a large majority for Labour was expected, as well as Labour winning 4 out of 6 seats, the majority was unexpected and historic. Adrian Delia, the leader of the opposition, conceded defeat. He did state, however, that he would not resign because of the result and that his aim was still the next Maltese general election.


2019 European Parliament election in Malta, Results
Although the far-right political party Imperium Europa increased their vote share from 2.68% in the 2014 European Parliament election to 3.17% (at 8,238 votes) in the current election, this was far less than initially thought by the Maltese media, who had thought that they had received about 15,000 votes. The Democratic Party on the other hand, the only third party in the Maltese Parliament, only managed to get 5,276 votes, with Camilla Appelgren defying expectations by not only getting 3,052 votes, but also beating her own party leader Godfrey Farrugia, who only managed to get 1,668 votes.


2019 European Parliament election in Piedmont
The European Parliament election of 2019 took place in Italy on 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Piedmont
In Piedmont Lega Nord came first with 37.1% of the vote (country-level result 34.3%), virtually 15pp more than the Democratic Party, which came second with 23.9%. The Five Star Movement came third with 13.3%, ahead of Forza Italia (9.1%), Brothers of Italy (6.0%), More Europe (3.3%), Green Europe (2.3%) and The Left (1.5%).


2019 European Parliament election in Poland
On Sunday 26 May 2019, a vote was held to elect the Polish delegation to the European Parliament. Polish voters elected 52 MEPs, compared to 51 in the 2014 election. The increased number of MEPs is a result of the 2018 reapportionment of seats in the European Parliament. Following the United Kingdom's announcement, that it will participate in elections to the European Parliament on May 23, Poland will continue to be represented by 51 MEPs. The 52nd MEP will take up their mandate immediately after the UK leaves the European Union. Following the announcement of the election results, the National Electoral Commission indicated Dominik Tarczyński from Lesser Poland and Świętokrzyskie  will take up the 52nd seat.


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Lists
Legally, Polish elections are contested by "election committees" (see Polish Wikipedia article) that are established by:


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Lists
These committees should register to the State Electoral Commission by 8 April 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Lists
The committees have to send lists of five to ten candidates in each electoral district by 16 April. Each list has to be supported by signatures of at least 10,000 voters residing in the district. However, a committee that had collected enough signatures in at least 7 electoral districts were allowed to register lists in the remaining districts regardless of local support. Establishment of an independent committee required signatures of at least 1,000 registered voters.


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Lists
There were 26 registered committees 6 of them registered candidates in all 13 constituencies.


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Electoral calendar
The Electoral Commission has published a timetable of the election proceedings:


2019 European Parliament election in Poland, Results
The Law and Justice party achieved its highest vote of any Polish elections at 45%.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
The European Parliament election of 2019, in Portugal, elected the Portuguese delegation to the European Parliament from 2019 to 2024. This was the eighth European election held in Portugal. The election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
The Socialist Party (PS) was the winner of the elections, scoring 33.4% of the vote. The party increased their share of the votes by 2% from the 2014 election, and won an additional seat. It was one of the only three times in Portuguese history where the government party won a European Election.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
The Social Democratic Party (PSD) achieved its worst results ever as a standalone party, with 21.9% of the vote, distancing more than eleven points from the winner. The People's Party (CDS), which ran alongside the PSD in the previous election, as part of the Portugal Alliance, also fell below expectations at 6.2% of the vote, only being able to elect their top candidate Nuno Melo.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
The Democratic Unity Coalition (CDU) scored their worst result as well, narrowly electing two MEPs compared to their former three. On the other hand, the Left Bloc (BE) rebounded to previous support levels, more than doubling its vote share to 9.8% and electing a new member.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
The big surprise of the elections was the result of People-Animals-Nature (PAN). Headed by civil engineer André Silva, PAN won 5.1% of the votes and was able to elect its first ever European Parliament member, over-performing the polls.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal
Turnout, again, fell to the lowest level ever, with only 30.7% of voters casting a ballot. Abstention reached an unprecedented level of 99.04% for Portuguese citizens living abroad.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, Electoral system
The voting method used, for the election of European members of parliament, is by proportional representation using the D'Hondt method. For the 2019 EU elections, Portugal has 21 seats to be filled. Deputies are elected in a single constituency, corresponding to the entire national territory.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, Electoral system
This election was also the first in which the changes in the electoral law, approved in 2018, were put into practice.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, Electoral system
The main changes were the automatic registration of all Portuguese citizens, at home and abroad, above 17 year's old, prompting the number of registered voters to increase from 9.7 million to almost 10.8 million, the introduction of early voting to all voters without filling an excuse, in previous elections voters could only vote early if they were unable to attend a polling station on election day, and the end of the "voting card", as voters would only need their ID card in order to cast a ballot. To vote early, 19,584 voters, 0.2% of all registered voters, requested an early ballot. According to the government, 14,909 voters cast an early ballot.


2019 European Parliament election in Portugal, Parties and candidates
The major parties that participated in the election and their EP list leaders, ranked by percentage of the vote received, were:


2019 European Parliament election in Romania
The European Parliament election of 2019 was held in Romania on 26 May 2019.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, Social Democratic Party
In April 2019, the Party of European Socialists (PES) announced on Wednesday that it would freeze relations with the Social Democrats (PSD) at least until June, citing concerns about the rule of law in the country. Since then the (PSD) moved further to Euroscepticism. Victor Ponta, who was expelled from the PSD in 2017, said "The PSD unfortunately has turned to a very populist, very nationalistic, demagogic party," he said.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, National Liberal Party
Three days after the 2014 election, on 28 May 2014, National Liberal Party president Crin Antonescu announced that the party would change European affiliation from ALDE to EPP, and it has started negotiations for the merger with the Democratic Liberal Party. The newly created party would still be called National Liberal Party, and be a member of the EPP. Democratic Liberal Party president Vasile Blaga later that day confirmed the merger of the two parties.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, National Liberal Party
MEP Norica Nicolai, first candidate on the National Liberal Party list refused to join the European People's Party group, and continued to stay a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group. After the 2014 presidential election, MEP Renate Weber, second candidate on the National Liberal Party list, resigned the European People's Party group, and joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group. After the completion of the merger of the two parties, the two MEPs were given an ultimatum to join the European People's Party group or face party exclusion. They failed to fulfill the request and thus were expelled from the National Liberal Party, and currently stand with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group. Later, MEP Norica Nicolai joined the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, National Liberal Party
In late August 2017, MEP Ramona Mănescu, third candidate on the National Liberal Party list, resigned the party, but continued to stand with the European People's Party group.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, National Liberal Party
In May 2018, People's Movement Party MEP Siegfried Mureșan, spokesman of the European People's Party, announced he is leaving the party to join the National Liberal Party.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, National Liberal Party
Journalist Rareș Bogdan, formerly a staunch opponent to the liberals, was officially nominated as head of the PNL list for the European Parliament elections, which also contains, among others, former co-president of PNL Vasile Blaga, MEPs Siegfried Mureșan, Adina Vălean, Daniel Buda, Cristian Bușoi, Marian-Jean Marinescu and Mihai Țurcanu, and mayors Mircea Hava and Gheorghe Falcă.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, Democratic Liberal Party
Three days after the 2014 election, on 28 May 2014, Democratic Liberal Party president Vasile Blaga confirmed the announcement made by  National Liberal Party president Crin Antonescu, that the two parties were to merge into a new party, that would retain the name of the latter and international affiliation of the former. To express discontent with this decision, and the lack of a PDL candidate to the presidential election, MEP Monica Macovei, second candidate on the Democratic Liberal Party list resigned the party in September 2014, and competed in the 2014 presidential election as an independent. Following the presidential election, she joined, as an independent politician, the European Conservatives and Reformists.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, People's Movement Party
In September 2014, following some declarations, Cristian Preda, first candidate on the People's Movement Party list, was expelled from the party. He continued to stand in the European People's Party group.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, People's Movement Party
In 2016, the People's Movement Party merged with (absorbed) the National Union for the Progress of Romania, but the later's MEPs did not join the People's Movement Party.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, People's Movement Party
In May 2018, MEP Siegfried Mureșan, spokesman of the European People's Party, announced he is leaving the People's Movement Party, to join the National Liberal Party. As a result, the People's Movement Party lost both its MEPs.


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, Conservative Party
The Conservative Party ran with the National Union for the Progress of Romania on a common list headed by the Social Democratic Party at the previous election. This electoral alliance was supposed to be called "Social Democratic Union" ("Uniunea Social Democrată"), but, due to the Romanian legislation (this name was taken by a 1990s alliance between the Democratic Party and Romanian Social Democratic Party), they ran as "PSD-UNPR-PC".


2019 European Parliament election in Romania, Background, Conservative Party
In 2015, the party merged with the Liberal Reformist Party, to form the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Members displeased with this decision, headed by MEP Maria Grapini (first Conservative Party candidate, and fifth on the PSD-UNPR-PC list), founded a new party, Humanist Power Party (Social-Liberal) (Romanian: Partidul Puterii Umaniste (Social-Liberal)). She continues to stand with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, as a member of PPU-SL. Laurențiu Rebega, second Conservative Party candidate and fourteenth on the PSD-UNPR-PC list, sat as an independent politician in the Non-Inscrits group, before joining PRO Romania and the ECR.