Infographic: Europe Moving to the Right

Antje Kästner

In 2017-18, most European left-of-centre parties suffered a serious defeat in parliamentary elections. In France, the Czech Republic, and Italy, new centrist parties were able to expand their political influence. In Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia, traditional conservative parties regained ground. And, with the exception of UKIP, radical right-wing parties strengthened or maintained their positions across Europe.

Europe is moving to the right. This is the verdict when comparing the results of elections to the lower chambers of parliament in nine European Union countries to that of the previous vote.

Starting with the early election to the British House of Commons on 8 June 2017, and ending with the election to the Swedish Riksdag on 9 September 2018, the infographic in chronological order contrasts the distribution of seats in the old parliament with that in the new one.

Parties were mapped by their political conviction from left to right. Traditional social democratic left-of-centre parties are coloured in a dark red; more radical left-wing parties in a lighter red. Similarly, traditional conservative left-of-centre parties in a dark blue; right-wing extremist parties in a lighter blue. Moderates falling in neither of these categories were coloured in ochre. This includes green, liberal, and regional parties as well as independent candidates.

Four trends exemplify, how Europe is moving to the right. First, traditional left-wing parties are losing popular support. Second, new centrist parties are gaining political support. Third, traditional conservative parties gain ground. Fourth, radical right-wing parties maintained or strengthened their positions.

The political decline of traditional left-wing parties are losing support

In France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Italy, Social Democratic Parties suffered serious defeats. Most dramatically, France’s Socialist Party lost 21.9 percent of votes, dashing their representation in the National Assembly from 280 to just 30 seats. The Czech Social Democratic Party’s vote receded by 13.2 percent, cutting their seats in the Chamber of Deputies from 50 to 15. Italy’s Democratic Party lost 6.7 percent of votes, reducing their parliamentary seats from 297 to 112. The German Social Democrats had to surrender 40 seats in the Bundestag after losing 5.2 percent of voters.

New centrist parties enter parliament

In a number of countries, a large segment of voters moved to support centrist movements or parties, many of which were only recently founded. In France, Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche convinced 28.2 percent of voters. Founded in 2016, the party won straightaway more than half of the seats in the National Assembly.

In Italy and the Czech Republic, centrist parties gained ground that for the second time participated in a parliamentary vote. The Five Stars Movement increased its share of votes by 7.1 percent and more than doubled their seats in Italy’s Chamber of Deputies. Meanwhile, Andrej Babiš’ ANO increased its share of votes by 11.0 percent, boosting their number of seats from 47 to 78, making them the biggest faction in the Czech parliament. In Germany, the Liberal Democrats, who were not represented in the previous Bundestag, re-entered parliament, winning 80 of the 709 seats.

The manifestation of traditional conservative parties

While the old right-of-centre parties suffered a defeat in France and Germany, traditional conservative parties were able to expand their political influence in a number of European countries. The Austrian People’s Party increased their share among voters by 7.5 percent, making them the strongest fraction in the National Council. In Hungary and Slovenia, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz and the Slovenian Democratic Party managed to expand their parliamentary influence.

Radical right-wing parties maintained or strengthened their positions

Finally, in a number of EU-countries, extreme right-wing parties were able to attract a growing number of voters, most dramatically in Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic. In Italy, the League expanded their vote by 13.3 percent, boosting their number of seats from 18 to 125. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany – that in 2013 had just failed to cross the 5 percent threshold, received 12.6 percent of the 2017-vote and subsequently gained 94 seats in the Bundestag. In the Czech Republic, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy won 22 seats in the 200-strong legislature.

In France, Hungary, Slovenia, and Sweden, radical right-wing parties were also able to expand their political influence, even though to a lesser degree. In France, the National Front lost voters, but due to the first-past-the-post system still managed to raise their seats in the National Assembly from 2 to 8. Similarly, in Hungary, Jobbik lost 1.2 percent of voters, but still was able to secure 3 additional seats in the National Assembly. The Slovenian National Party entered parliament, securing 4 of the 90 seats. And the Sweden Democrats attracted 4.6 percent more voters compared to the previous election, raising their seats in the Riksdag from 48 to 62.

In Austria, the far-right maintained 51 of the 183 seats in parliament. As such, the United Kingdom was the only country in which a right-wing radical party’s political influence declined. UKIP, which only held one seat in the House of Commons, was kicked-out of parliament.

 

NUMBER OF PARLIAMENTARY SEATS WON IN THE LAST TWO ELECTIONS

 

British House of Commons			07.05.2015	08.06.2017
	SDLP	Social Democratic and Labour Party	3	0
	LP	Labour Party	232	262
	SNP	Scotish National Party	56	35
	LD	Liberal Democrats	8	12
	SF	Sinn Fein	4	7
	PC	Plaid Cymru	3	4
	UUP	Ulster Unionists	2	0
	GP	Green Party	1	1
	I	Independent	1	1
	DUP	Democratic Unionist Party	8	10
	CP	Conservative Party	330	317
	UKIP	UK independence Party	1	0
		total seats:	649	649
France’s National Assembly			10-17.06.2012	11-18.6.2017
	PCF	French Communist Party	0	10
	FI	La France Insoumise	0	17
	DVG	Miscellaneous left	22	12
	FDG	Left Front	10	0
	PRG	Radical Party of the Left	12	3
	SP	Socialist Party	280	30
	EELV	Europe Ecology – The Greens	17	1
	REG	Regionalists	2	5
	DIV	Miscellaneous	0	3
	DLF	Debout la France	0	1
	LREM	La République En Marche!	0	308
	MoDEM	Democratic Movement	2	42
	AC	Centrist Alliance	2	0
	NC	New Center	12	0
	UMP	Union for a Popular Movement	194	0
	DVD	Miscellaneous right	15	6
	PRV	Radical Party	6	0
	LR	The Republicans	0	112
	UDI	Union of Democrats and Independents	0	18
	NF	National Front	2	8
	EXD	Far Right	1	1
		total seats:	577	577
Germany’s Bundestag			22.09.2013	24.09.2017
	Left	The Left	64	69
	SPD	Social Democrats	193	153
	A90/Greens	Alliance 90/The Greens	63	67
	FDP	Liberal Democrats	0	80
	CDU-CSU	Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union	311	246
	AfD	Alternative for Germany	0	94
		total seats:	631	709
Austria’s National Council			29.09.2013	15.10.2017
	SPÖ	Social Democratic Party of Austria	52	52
	Greens	The Greens – The Green Alternative	24	0
	PILZ	Peter Pilz List	0	8
	NEOS	NEOS – The New Austria	9	10
	ÖVP	Austrian People’s Party	47	62
	TS	Team Stronach	11	0
	FPÖ	Freedom Party of Austria	40	51
		total seats:	183	183
The Czech Republic’s Chamber of Deputies			25-26.10.2013	20-21.10.2017
	KSČM	Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia	33	15
	ČSSD	Czech Social Democratic Party	50	15
	Pirates	Czech Pirate Party	0	22
	ANO	ANO	47	78
	KDU–CSL	Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People’s Party	14	10
	STAN	Mayors and Independents	0	6
	TOP 09	Tradition Responsibility Prosperity	26	7
	ODS	Civic Democratic Party	16	25
	SPD	Freedom and Direct Democracy	0	22
	USVIT	Dawn of Direct Democracy	14	0
		total seats:	200	200
Italy’s Chamber of Deputies			24-25.02.2013	04.03.2018
	LeU	Free and Equal	0	14
	SEL	Left Ecology Freedom	37	0
	Together	Together	0	1
	+E	More Europe	0	3
	CP	Popular Civic List	0	2
	PD	Democratic Party	297	112
	UV-SA-FA	Aosta Valley	1	0
	USEI	South American Union Italian Emigrants	1	1
	MAIE	Associative Movement Italians Abroad	2	1
	CD	Democratic Center	6	0
	UDC	Union óf the Centre	8	0
	SC	Civic Choice	39	0
	PDL	Party of Freedom	98	0
	M5S	Five Star Movement	109	227
	SVP-PATT	South Tyrolean People’s Party-Trentino Tyrolean Autonomist Party	5	4
	(NcI-UdC	Us With Italy	0	4
	Forza Italia	Forza Italia	0	104
	FDI	Brothers of Italy	9	32
	League	League	18	125
		total seats:	630	630
Hungary’s National Assembly			06.04.2014	08.04.2018
	LMP	Politics Can Be Different	5	8
	DK	Democratic Coalition	4	9
	MSZP	Hungarian Socialist Party–Dialogue for Hungary	0	20
	MSZP	Hungarian Socialist Party	29	0
	PM	Dialogue for Hungary	1	0
	Together	Together (Együtt)	3	1
	Independent	Independent	0	1
	MLP	Hungarian Liberal Party	1	0
	Germans	National Self-Government of Germans in Hungary	0	1
	Fidesz	Fidesz-KDNP	0	133
	KDNP	Christian Democratic People’s Party	16	0
	Fidesz	Fidesz	117	0
	Jobbik	Jobbik	23	26
		total seats:	199	199
Slovenia’s National Assembly			13.07.2014	03.06.2018
	ZL	United Left	6	9
	SD	Social Democrats	6	10
	I&HNM	Italian and Hungarian national minorities	2	2
	SAB	Party of Alenka Bratušek	4	5
	DeSUS	Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia	10	5
	LMŠ	List of Marjan Šarec	0	13
	SMC	Modern Centre Party	36	10
	NSI	New Slovenia – Christian Democrats	5	7
	SDS	Slovenian Democratic Party	21	25
	SNS	Slovenian National Party	0	4
		total seats:	90	90
Sweden’s Riksdag			14.09.2014	09.09.2018
	V	Left Party	21	28
	S	Social Democratic Party	113	100
	MP	Green Party	25	16
	C	Centre Party	22	31
	L	Liberal People’s Party	19	20
	KD	Christian Democrats	16	22
	M	Moderate Party	84	70
	SD	Sweden Democrats	49	62
		total seats:	349	349