An election was held in Spain on 13 June 2004 as part of the concurrent EU-wide election to the 6th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to the Spanish constituency as per the Treaty of Nice were up for election.

The election saw a close race between the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which had accessed power earlier in April in the wake of the 11M train bombings leading up to the 14 March general election, and the centre-right People's Party (PP), still reeling from its election defeat. It marked the only time the PSOE emerged as the largest party in a European Parliament election in Spain between 1989 and 2019. It also saw a considerable drop in turnout down to 45.1%, the lowest up until that point—a figure that would be outmatched by the turnout in the two subsequent European Parliament elections, 2009 (44.9%) and 2014 (43.8%).

Overview Electoral system Voting for the European Parliament in Spain was based on universal suffrage, which comprised all Spanish nationals and resident non-national European citizens over 18 years of age with full political rights, provided that they had not been deprived of the right to vote by a final sentence, nor were legally incapacitated..

54 European Parliament seats were allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Nice.; . All were elected in a single multi-member constituency—comprising the entire national territory—using the D'Hondt method and closed-list proportional voting, with no electoral threshold.. The use of this electoral method resulted in an effective threshold depending on district magnitude and vote distribution.

The law did not provide for by-elections to fill vacant seats; instead, any vacancies arising after the proclamation of candidates and during the legislative term were filled by the next candidates on the party lists or, when required, by designated substitutes..

Outgoing delegation

The table below shows the composition of the Spanish delegation in the chamber at the time of the election call.

+ Delegation composition in May 2004 Groups Parties MEPs Seats Total European People's Party–European Democrats PP 26 28 UPN 1 UDC 1 Party of European Socialists PSOE 23 24 LV 1 European United Left–Nordic Green Left IU 4 4 Greens–European Free Alliance BNG 1 4 ERC 1 PAR 1 BNV 1 European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party CDC 1 3 EAJ/PNV 1 UV 1 Non-Inscrits INDEP 1 1

Parties and candidates The electoral law allowed for parties and federations registered in the interior ministry, alliances and groupings of electors to present lists of candidates. Parties and federations intending to form an alliance were required to inform the relevant electoral commission within 10 days of the election call. In order to be entitled to run, parties, federations, alliances and groupings of electors needed to secure the signature of at least 15,000 registered electors; this requirement could be lifted and replaced through the signature of at least 50 elected officials—deputies, senators, MEPs or members from the legislative assemblies of autonomous communities or from local city councils. Electors and elected officials were disallowed from signing for more than one list..

Below is a list of the main parties and alliances which contested the election:

Candidacy Parties andalliances Leading candidate Ideology Previous result Vote % Seats PP Jaime Mayor Oreja ConservatismChristian democracy 39.7% PSOE Josep Borrell Social democracy 35.3% Galeusca Ignasi Guardans Peripheral nationalism 8.0% IU–ICV–EUiA Willy Meyer SocialismCommunism 6.5% CE Alejandro Rojas-Marcos Regionalism 3.4% EdP Bernat Joan Peripheral nationalism 1.1%

The abertzale left tried to run under the umbrella of the Herritarren Zerrenda list (Basque for "Citizens' List"). However, the Spanish Supreme Court annulled HZ lists and banned them from running on 22 May 2004, as it considered that the candidacy's promoters and half of its candidates had links with the outlawed Batasuna and with the ETA environment.

Opinion polls The tables below list opinion polling results in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a poll.

Voting intention estimates The table below lists weighted voting intention estimates. Refusals are generally excluded from the party vote percentages, while question wording and the treatment of "don't know" responses and those not intending to vote may vary between polling organisations. When available, seat projections determined by the polling organisations are displayed below (or in place of) the percentages in a smaller font.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Turnout GEC CE EP Lead 2004 EP election 13 Jun 2004 45.1 41.2 43.5 5.1 4.1 1.3 2.5 2.3 Sigma Dos/Antena 3 13 Jun 2004?? 39.5–41.5 42.0–44.0 6.0 5.0 1.6 2.4 2.5 Ipsos–Eco/RTVE 13 Jun 2004?? 39.9 43.4 5.5 4.4 1.7 2.6 3.5 Celeste-Tel/La Razón 6 Jun 2004 1,202? 37.2 46.1 5.2 4.6 1.3 3.0 8.9 Noxa/La Vanguardia 31 May–3 Jun 2004 1,200? 37.4 46.1 4.9 4.8 1.5 2.4 8.7 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 1–2 Jun 2004 1,000? 37.9 42.6 5.2 5.2 1.7 3.1 4.7 TNS Demoscopia/ABC 31 May–2 Jun 2004 2,005 55–60 38.4 46.7 4.6 3.7 1.1 2.2 8.3 CIS 19–26 May 2004 4,781 76.7 36.7 46.3 5.0 4.4 1.5 3.1 9.6 Opina/El País 24 May 2004 1,000? 37.0 43.0 6.0 5.0 1.5 2.5 6.0 Opina/Cadena SER 13 May 2004 1,000? 37.0 45.0 6.0 5.0 1.5 2.5 8.0 Sigma Dos/El Mundo 26 Apr 2004?? 39.2 45.1 2.1 3.6 – – 5.9 Vox Pública/El Periódico 13–15 Apr 2004 1,501? 36.5 42.2 5.7 5.8? 2.3 5.7 Burson-Marsteller 13 Apr 2004?? 38.6 35.5 – – – – 3.1 Opina/El País 30 Mar 2004 1,000? 38.8 45.9 4.2 5.3 – – 7.1 Celeste-Tel 14 Feb 2001 1,156? 38.4 37.9 4.5 4.1 3.3 – 0.5 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 63.0 39.7 35.3 8.0 6.5 3.4 1.1 4.4

Voting preferences The table below lists raw, unweighted voting preferences.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size GEC CE EP Lead 2004 EP election 13 Jun 2004 18.8 19.7 2.4 1.9 0.6 1.1 54.1 0.9 TNS Demoscopia/ABC 31 May–2 Jun 2004 2,005 22.0 27.5 2.4 2.1 0.6 1.2 39.1 2.6 5.5 CIS 19–26 May 2004 4,781 20.7 39.8 2.6 2.8 0.5 1.4 22.8 8.2 19.1 Vox Pública/El Periódico 13–15 Apr 2004 1,501 22.3 28.2 – – – – – – 5.9 1999 EP election 13 Jun 1999 25.4 22.5 5.1 4.2 2.1 0.6 35.7 2.9

Victory preferences The table below lists opinion polling on the victory preferences for each party in the event of a European Parliament election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size GEC CE EP Other/None Lead Noxa/La Vanguardia 31 May–3 Jun 2004 1,200 31.0 50.0 2.0 3.0 – 2.0 5.0 7.0 19.0 CIS 19–26 May 2004 4,781 24.4 49.1 2.0 2.7 0.1 1.1 5.0 15.5 24.7 Opina/El País 24 May 2004 1,000 27.8 47.3 – – – – 2.7 22.2 19.5 Opina/Cadena SER 13 May 2004 1,000 28.5 47.8 – – – – 3.2 20.5 19.3

Victory likelihood The table below lists opinion polling on the perceived likelihood of victory for each party in the event of a European Parliament election taking place.

Polling firm/Commissioner Fieldwork date Sample size Other/None Lead Noxa/La Vanguardia 31 May–3 Jun 2004 1,200 22.0 59.0 1.0 18.0 37.0 CIS 19–26 May 2004 4,781 12.3 57.2 0.8 29.7 44.9 Opina/El País 24 May 2004 1,000 16.0 48.3 0.3 35.4 32.3 Opina/Cadena SER 13 May 2004 1,000 18.0 49.2 1.9 30.9 31.2

Results Overall

+ ← Summary of the 13 June 2004 European Parliament election results in Spain → Parties and alliances Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Total +/− Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 6,741,112 43.46 +8.13 25 +1 People's Party (PP) 6,393,192 41.21 +1.47 24 −3 Galeusca–Peoples of Europe (Galeusca)1 798,816 5.15 −2.87 2 −2 United Left–Initiative for Catalonia Greens–EUiA (IU–ICV–EUiA)2 643,136 4.15 −2.36 2 −2 Europe of the Peoples (EdP)3 380,709 2.45 +1.34 1 −1 European Coalition (CE)4 197,231 1.27 −2.17 0 −2 The Greens–European Green Group (LV–GVE)5 68,536 0.44 −0.22 0 ±0 Cannabis Party for Legalisation and Normalisation (PCLyN) 54,460 0.35 New 0 ±0 Aralar (Aralar) 19,993 0.13 New 0 ±0 Socialist Action Party (PASOC) 13,810 0.09 New 0 ±0 Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) 11,820 0.08 −0.10 0 ±0 For a Fairer World (PUM+J) 9,202 0.06 New 0 ±0 Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) 8,180 0.05 New 0 ±0 Internationalist Socialist Workers' Party (POSI)6 7,976 0.05 +0.02 0 ±0 Family and Life Party (PFyV) 7,958 0.05 New 0 ±0 New Green Left (NIV) 6,876 0.04 New 0 ±0 National Democracy (DN) 6,314 0.04 ±0.00 0 ±0 The Phalanx (FE) 5,935 0.04 −0.01 0 ±0 The Unemployed (Los Parados) 5,314 0.03 New 0 ±0 Commoners' Land–Castilian Nationalist Party (TC–PNC) 5,267 0.03 −0.03 0 ±0 Spanish Phalanx of the CNSO (FE de las JONS) 4,484 0.03 New 0 ±0 Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain–Internationalist Struggle (PCPE–LI) 4,281 0.03 −0.09 0 ±0 Humanist Party (PH) 3,923 0.03 −0.03 0 ±0 Spanish Democratic Party (PADE) 3,454 0.02 −0.06 0 ±0 Regionalist Party of the Leonese Country (PREPAL) 3,308 0.02 −0.01 0 ±0 Catalan State (EC) 2,594 0.02 New 0 ±0 We–People's Unity (Nós–UP) 2,516 0.02 New 0 ±0 Authentic Phalanx (FA) 2,008 0.01 New 0 ±0 Liberal Coalition (CL) 1,719 0.01 New 0 ±0 Carlist Party (PC) 1,600 0.01 New 0 ±0 Liberal Centrist Union (UCL) 1,544 0.01 New 0 ±0 Basque Citizens (EH) n/a n/a −1.45 0 −1 Blank ballots 95,014 0.61 −1.08 Total 15,512,282 54 −10 Valid votes 15,512,282 99.02 −0.19 Invalid votes 154,209 0.98 +0.19 Votes cast / turnout 15,666,491 45.14 −17.91 Abstentions 19,039,553 54.86 +17.91 Registered voters 34,706,044 Sources

Maps

Distribution by European group + Summary of political group distribution in the 6th European Parliament (2004–2009) Groups Parties Seats Total % Party of European Socialists (PES)Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) 24 24 44.44 European People's Party–European Democrats (EPP–ED)People's Party (PP) Navarrese People's Union (UPN) 231 24 44.44 Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)Confederation of the Greens (LV) Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV) Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) 111 3 5.56 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ/PNV) 11 2 3.70 European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)United Left (IU) 1 1 1.85 Total 54 54 100.00

Elected legislators The following table lists the elected legislators: