V4 Election Results

In the context of the V4 countries, the vote has become a plebiscite of support for governments. Only the result in Slovakia and to a certain extent in Czechia reflects the new balance of power in the European Parliament.

The two most-influential forces approving European legislation and key positions in the EU’s institutions (the EPP and Social Democrats) will be joined by the liberal ALDE and reinforced by the Macron faction. The biggest Central European winners on the national arena are paradoxically the biggest losers in European politics.

In almost all V4 countries, the elections were won by the controlling parties in government. The largest percentage of support was collected by the Hungarian Fidesz (52.3%), then PiS (45.4%) and followed by the Czech ANO 2011 (21.2%). The exception was Slovakia where the ruling SMER (15.7%) was dethroned by a coalition of two newly-formed parties – a progressive and a Christian-Democratic (20.1%).

As we wrote in the last Visegrad/Insight report “European Parliamentary #Futures” one thing in the new balance of power in Europe is certain: nothing will be as expected. Although even the combined forces of the radicals after the elections are not able to influence the main EU decisions, a new political dynamism will take place in Europe whose scenarios are defined between the domination of the rule of law and the extinction of illiberal forces.