The Popular Party (PP) has managed to double its votes in the four most populous municipalities and in the non-capital island capitals compared to the 2019 European elections and also improves on the results compared to last year’s general elections. However, this significant advance by the Popular Party has not been enough to surpass the PSOE, as the socialists win in five of the seven islands while the PP wins in La Palma and El Hierro.
In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the PSOE emerged victorious, but with a very close result due to the significant progress of the Popular Party, resulting in a technical tie between the two parties. The socialists achieved 32.6% of the votes in the capital and the Popular Party obtained 31.8%, compared to 35.4% and 17.8%, respectively, five years ago. In comparison to the general elections, the PSOE maintains a similar percentage while the PP had already increased their votes to 28.6%.
In the second most populous municipality in Gran Canaria, Telde, the Popular Party doubled its support compared to the elections five years ago, with the PSOE dropping by 4.5%, while Vox rises and, as in other municipalities, the party “Se acabó la fiesta” emerges with more votes than CC, Sumar, and Podemos.
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Abstention Prevails in the Canary Islands: Six out of Ten Islanders Do Not Vote
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It was expected and the forecast came true. Abstention won the elections. Despite candidates emphasizing repeatedly the importance of these European elections for the Islands. In fact, 70% of the legislation adopted in the European Parliament affects the Archipelago, such as aid to agriculture, fishing, travel discounts between Islands and the Peninsula… But neither this argument nor any other, such as the repeated phrase “Canary Islands are at stake,” managed to touch the hearts of the islanders.
Nearly six out of ten Canarians stayed at home, went to the beach, or took advantage of Sunday for a country stroll, while the ballot boxes remained half-empty and Spain turned blue yesterday (only in Canary Islands, Catalonia, and Navarre did the PSOE win).
PSOE Holds Ground in the Canary Islands and Achieves Another Victory
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The PSOE stands firm and remains the leading force in the Archipelago. With the results for the European Parliament, the party continues its winning streak in the Islands, which began with the 2019 general elections. The ballot boxes painted Spain almost entirely blue yesterday, with only three communities benefiting the red wave. Canary Islands was one of them. It was the only positive note in an electoral day that ended bittersweet for the island socialists. The party saved the situation in the Islands by staying ahead of the Popular Party, but lost 80,834 votes in the Islands compared to the last European elections in 2019, resulting in a decrease of 1.52 percentage points.
Left-Wing Alternative Division Costs Podemos Dearly
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The division within the left penalizes Podemos, also in the Canary Islands. The party led by Irene Montero in these European Parliament elections dropped from fourth to seventh place in the Archipelago by running alone and not in coalition with other parties, as it did in 2019. With about 23,203 votes, or in other words, 3.43% of the vote, the purple party lagged behind Sumar Canarias by nearly 4,000 votes in the Islands.
the coalition that they were part of five years ago.
The Canarian PP contributes to the national triumph
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“The PP has once again won the elections and Canarias has played a significant role in this,” stated the president of the party in the Islands, Manuel Domínguez, in front of the few supporters who came out to support their leaders on election night. The Popular Party gained 60,000 votes in the Archipelago compared to the 2014 results. In total, 197,871 Canarians supported their proposals, positioning the party as the second most voted force in two provinces, just 7,721 votes behind the PSOE.
Vox gains ground and becomes the third force in Canarias
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Vox is making progress in Canarias. The party led by Santiago Abascal has improved its results in the two provinces of the Archipelago and has gone from being the seventh option in the Islands to becoming the third force, behind the PSOE and the PP. The far-right party went this Sunday from 23,683 votes to 81,202 votes, more than double the support obtained in the previous European Parliament elections. This figure increases the party’s results to 12% of the votes counted, also representing a growth of almost nine points (8.69%) compared to five years ago when it barely reached 3.31%, positioning Vox ahead of formations like Coalición Canaria.
In the capital of Fuerteventura, Puerto del Rosario, the tables are turned compared to previous elections as it usually leans towards the Socialist Party in both general and European elections. Although the PSOE only drops just over one point, the PP goes from 13.7% to 28.4%, while Vox also increases its support in the European elections in the capital of Fuerteventura.
The capital of Lanzarote, Arrecife, remains tinted with the socialist red –36.8%– despite the improvement in the results of the Popular Party –26.09%, almost thirteen points more than in 2019. The island of volcanoes tends to have higher abstention rates, and the PSOE also has a loyal vote in the vast majority of election events.
Once again, Tenerife sees a victory for the PSOE at the island level, although we can see the socialist wear and tear against the advance of the PP with 13 more points than five years ago. In the case of Coalición Canaria, it is striking the setback experienced by the nationalists compared to the European elections of 2019, with a significant drop of 12.6 points, while Vox almost ties in votes with Coalición Canaria.
In the results by island, the Socialists have been the most voted in Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and La Gomera; the Popular Party emerges victorious in La Palma and El Hierro
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The two most populated municipalities in Tenerife have different political colours, a situation that is similar in general elections, as well as regional and municipal elections. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the PP wins by increasing its support by 16 percentage points compared to five years ago, resulting in a technical tie between the two formations, considering that in 2019 the PSOE won by a wide margin in the European elections that year, which coincided with regional and municipal elections where the Socialists achieved excellent results that eventually led the Socialist leader Ángel Víctor Torres to the Presidency of the Government after over two decades of dominance by CC in the regional government. CC drops by 11 points in the Tenerife capital, and Vox surpasses the nationalist party in the capital municipality.
In San Cristóbal de La Laguna, the Socialists do not retreat, which allows them to win in the second most populated municipality in Tenerife. The PP doubles its votes, while Coalición Canaria remains in third place, a result similar to the general elections of July 23 last year.
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The People’s Party wins in Santa Cruz de La Palma and Valverde in the capitals of the western islands, while the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party strengthens its position in San Sebastián de La Gomera. In the capital of La Palma, the People’s Party turns the tables on the previous general elections, which the Socialists won with a slight advantage over the People’s Party.
The map of the 88 Canarian municipalities is tinged with red and blue, and Coalition Canaria, which presented its own ballot within the coalition with the Basque Nationalist Party, won in five municipalities. The nationalists were the most voted in Betancuria (Fuerteventura), La Orotava and El Sauzal (Tenerife), and in El Paso and Fuencaliente (La Palma). The rest of the municipalities were shared between the two major national parties.
Disparities
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The most noticeable differences between the different elections are in municipal elections, where local parties have more strength than national formations, while in regional elections, there is a nationalist factor with the significant presence of Coalition Canaria (CC) in a prominent part of the municipalities, especially in the province of Tenerife.
When it comes to general and European elections, the trend is towards a greater concentration of votes for the two major national parties. However, in the 2019 European elections, there were more municipalities where CC won due to the drag of votes received by the nationalist party as a result of the simultaneous municipal and regional elections on the same electoral day.
The map of Canarian municipalities is tinged with blue five years after the overwhelming victory of the PSOE in the 2019 European elections, which coincided with the regional and municipal elections
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Overall, in these European elections, there are more municipalities coloured blue representing the People’s Party than those representing the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. In 2014, it was also the People’s Party that won the elections despite a decrease in support, but the PSOE could not take advantage of the situation due to high abstention rates and the emergence of Podemos in 2014, which achieved a magnificent result in its first electoral outing as a political party.
In 2019, most Canarian municipalities were coloured red, and the People’s Party only managed to win in a few municipalities. The PSOE was experiencing a good moment in this year, winning the regional, general, and European elections. In the last general elections, municipal support for the PP increased, a scenario that has become more pronounced in this European electoral event, where the Popular Party won in more municipalities, although the regional winner was the PSOE, securing support in several of the most populous municipalities in the Islands and on islands like Lanzarote or La Gomera, which remain faithful strongholds of the Socialists.
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Formations such as Vox and “Se acabó la fiesta” have garnered significant support, mostly at the expense of left-wing parties.
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