Socialists won the European Parliament election in Spain.
The Socialists were seen winning 20 of the country’s 54 seats in the European Parliament, up from 14 in 2014, while the far-right Vox was seen getting its first EU lawmakers, with four to five seats.
With more than 95 percent of votes counted, government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa announced the Socialist Party had come first with close to 33 percent, followed by the conservative Popular Party which won just over 20 percent.
The PSOE won 20 seats, six seats more than in the 2014 European election, and a share equivalent to more than 4 percentage points above last month’s Spanish general election.
In another devastating blow for the Popular Party, still reeling from disastrous results in the April 28th vote, the conservatives came in second place with 20.09 percent of the vote and 12 seats, four down from 2014.
The center-right Ciudadanos, a newcomer in 2014 and now one of Spain’s’ major parties, won eight seats, from two in the previous election.
The conservative People’s Party saw its number of European Parliament seats drop to 12 from 16.
Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras were both seen winning EU seats, but with question marks on whether they can become EU lawmakers.
Spaniards also voted in local and regional elections, whose outcome will be important in negotiations to form the national government.
The Socialists won the general election last month, but did not capture enough seats in parliament to govern on their own.
A Sigma Dos exit poll showed the Socialists leading in the Madrid regional assembly, where they would have a majority together with the anti-austerity Podemos and another far-left party.
Exit polls showed the result was too close to call in the Madrid and Barcelona municipalities.
