Socialists win in Portugal, stay second in Spain
Portugal's main opposition Socialists won elections for the European Parliament yesterday (25 May) in an austerity-weary country which earlier this month exited an international bailout. In Spain, the opposition Socialists came second, but both centre-left and centre-right lost support compared to 2009.
With more than 99% of the vote counted, the centre-left Socialists had won with 31.45% of the ballot that was marked by high abstention levels at over 66%.
The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's Social Democrats and their smaller rightist partner CDS-PP that implemented painful cuts over the three years of bailout, garnered 27.7%.
It was followed by the Communist-Greens alliance, with 12.7% and the agrarian-environmentalist Partido da Terra (Party of the Earth), which built its campaign on disillusionment with traditional political parties.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-elections-2014/socialists-win-portugal-stay-second-spain-302389