Ally Black, Glasgow
Three features of the June 10 European Parliament elections stand out starkly. First, there was a pitifully low turnout in most of the 25 member states making up the newly enlarged European Union.
Voter abstention reached an average of 52% in the 15 original members of the EU and 74% in the 10 newcomers, rising to 80% in Poland and Slovakia.
The European Parliament is seen as remote, irrelevant and subordinate to unelected institutions such as the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Central Bank. There is also a sense among most voters that the European Union is a gigantic bureaucratic gravy train.
The second feature of the elections was the rising tide of Euro-scepticism. This was reflected in England in the 17% vote for the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP). In Poland, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Denmark, anti-EU parties made significant electoral gains.
At the same time, voters used these elections to punish the governing parties in their countries. In Germany, the ruling Social-democratic Party (SPD) took less than half the vote of its main rival, the conservative Christian Democratic Party.
In France, President Jacques Chirac's Union for a Popular Movement slumped to just 16% of the vote, while the rival Socialist Party captured 29% of the vote.
In England, Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party took just 22% of the vote. Much of the anti-government vote in England went to the Tories, the UKIP and the Liberal Democrats.
However, the left-wing Respect coalition, contesting elections for the first time, received a reasonable 1.7% of the vote.
Respect's vote was very uneven, with some good results, notably in London, Birmingham, Leicester and Preston. In 10 Birmingham inner-city wards Respect polled an average of 24%.
Lindsay German, the Respect candidate for London mayor came in fifth, beating both the Greens and fascist British National Party (BNP). She also came within half a percent of being elected to the London Assembly, while in the European Parliament election, former Labour MP George Galloway also narrowly failed to win one of the nine London seats.
In east London's Tower Hamlets constituency, which has one of the largest Muslim populations in the UK, Respect topped the European Parliament poll, beating all the other parties.
In the Coventry local council elections, the Socialist Party polled strongly with two councillors being re-elected in the St Michaels ward. Unfortunately, the SP lost one of its sitting councillors, despite the fact that he polled more votes than in the last election.
In Oxford, the Independent Working Class Association gained three councillors.
While the BNP were eclipsed by UKIP and failed to make the breakthrough it had hoped to achieve, it still gained a big increase in its vote, outpolling the left in most areas.
This makes the establishment of a united socialist force in England an even more pressing priority. Although it did not win any seats, Respect still has the potential to play a key role in this process.
In Wales there were successes for the newly-formed left-wing Forward Wales party with one councillor elected in Wrexham and an average vote of 23% where it stood candidates. In the European Parliament election, Forward Wales emerged as the biggest left party, with 17,280 votes (compared with 5427 for Respect).
In the Irish republic, socialists gained some excellent results in local council elections, partly as a result of the campaign they have led against the "bin tax". The Socialist Party took four seats in Dublin and Cork and were not far from winning another three. The SP councillors will be joined on Dublin City Council by independent socialist Joan Collins.
Candidates from the Socialist Workers Party, Working Class Action and the Irish Socialist Network also polled strongly.
In Northern Ireland, Eamonn McCann of the Socialist Environmental Alliance gained 1.6% of the vote in the European Parliament elections while Sinn Fein displaced the Social Democratic and Labour Party to take a seat in Brussels.
Elsewhere in Europe there was a mixed picture. In Italy the Refounded Communist Party (PRC) gained two additional seats as the right-wing government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lost votes to the left. The PRC went from a vote of 4.3% in 1999 to 6.1%, placing it in a strong position for the next Italian general elections, to be held in 2006.
The Portuguese Left Bloc won one seat in the European Parliament and the Dutch Socialist Party gained two seats.
The French left fared less well, with the joint Lutte Ouvriere-Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire list losing all four of their MEPs. The LO-LCR alliance suffered from a change in the electoral system which made it harder to win seats and also from a surge in support for the Socialist Party, as voters sought to punish Chirac.
The Left Party in Luxembourg also lost its only seat.
In Germany there was a historic drop in support for the ruling SPD, with the Greens and the parties of the right gaining at the SPD's expense.
[Based on a report in Scottish Socialist Voice.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004.
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