Weeks after the Santer Commission resigned en masse over fraud allegations, a Parliament that had just flexed real power saw the EPP overtake the Socialists for the first time since 1979, a lead it has never surrendered. Turnout fell below 50% for the first time.
President of the European Parliament before
José María Gil-Robles
EPP
President of the European Parliament after
Nicole Fontaine
EPP-ED
Largest group
EPP-ED
233 of 626 seats
Turnout
49.8%
across 15 member states
The Parliament it elected
EPP-ED
European People's Party–European Democrats · 37.2%
233
MEPs
PES
Party of European Socialists · 28.8%
180
MEPs
ELDR
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party · 8.0%
50
MEPs
G-EFA
Greens–European Free Alliance · 7.7%
48
MEPs
EUL-NGL
European United Left–Nordic Green Left · 6.7%
42
MEPs
UEN
Union for Europe of the Nations · 4.8%
31
MEPs
TGI
Technical Group of Independents
18
MEPs
EDD
Europe of Democracies and Diversities
16
MEPs
NI
Non-Inscrits
8
MEPs
Share of chamber
EPP-ED
European People's Party–European Democrats
Hans-Gert Pöttering
233
37.2%
PES
Party of European Socialists
Enrique Barón Crespo
180
28.8%
ELDR
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
Pat Cox
50
8.0%
G-EFA
Greens–European Free Alliance
Heidi Hautala & Paul Lannoye
48
7.7%
EUL-NGL
European United Left–Nordic Green Left
Francis Wurtz
42
6.7%
UEN
Union for Europe of the Nations
Charles Pasqua
31
4.8%
TGI
Technical Group of Independents
—
18
—
EDD
Europe of Democracies and Diversities
Jens-Peter Bonde
16
—
NI
Non-Inscrits
—
8
—
Group composition at or immediately after the Parliament's constitutive session; groups form and dissolve between elections, so totals elsewhere may differ. Vote shares are EU-wide shares for the parties that formed each group, where the source reports them.
The result by member state
How each of the 15 member states' MEPs divided among the political groups. The source's by-country table differs slightly from the headline group totals (EPP-ED sums to 231 here against 233 in the headline result), reflecting members who switched groups in the Parliament's first days.