The Portuguese election has seen yet another Socialist party ejected from government during the World’s most serious economic crisis since the 1930s. In the last months, we have seen national elections in Cyprus, Estonia, Finland and Ireland, regional or state elections in Germany and Spain, and mayoral and province elections in Italy. How calamitous is this for the left? A few observations:

1. The centre-right has been the dominant force in most EU governments since 2002 well before the economic crisis. The latest results are mostly not a rejection of the left in government but a reconfirmation of the centre-right despite the economic crisis. The left has questions to answer about why it has not been in a position to offer a credible alternative
2. The most recent national elections in 10 EU states (Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, France, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain) saw a swing toward the Socialist parties. In only Greece and Slovenia was this enough to win power from the centre-right though in Belgium the Socialists will lead a coalition government if one can be formed. In Spain, the Socialists were re-elected in 2008.  In the other 17 states, the Socialist vote declined.  
3. A Centre-Left government has just been re-elected in Cyprus. Socialist-led governments also continue in office in Austria, Greece, Slovenia and Spain.
4. Socialist parties remain the largest parties in the Austrian, Belgian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene and Swedish parliaments
5. Recent electoral success for new right-wing populist parties in Finland and the Netherlands was largely at the expense of the conventional centre-right. The Social Democratic vote in both countries proved quite resilient. The formation of a centre-right government with the support of the far right Freedom Party in the Netherlands is the choice of the Dutch Liberals, who had an alternative which was to form a coalition with the centre-left.
6. The Spanish Socialists amid an economic crisis have just experienced their worst ever defeat in regional and mayoral elections. The current right-wing governments in Germany and Italy have also been defeated in local elections in a context of the economic climate, hostility to nuclear power in Germany and to poor administrations and scandal in Italy.

The type of left that has just won the state level and local elections in Germany and Italy is the subject of my next post.