An election was held in Spain on 25 May 2014 as part of the concurrent EU-wide election to the 8th European Parliament. All 54 seats allocated to the Spanish constituency as per the Treaty of Lisbon were up for election.

The People's Party (PP) emerged as the largest party overall, albeit with its worst nationwide election result in 25 years with a mere 26.1% of the share and 16 seats, losing 2.6 million votes and 8 seats from its 2009 result. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) lost 9 seats and 2.5 million votes, obtaining just 23% of the total party vote and 14 seats. This would represent the party's worst election result in recent history until the 2015 general election, in which it scored a new low. Up to 8 additional political forces obtained representation. Pablo Iglesias' newly formed Podemos party (Spanish for "We can") turned into the election night surprise by winning 5 seats and 1,253,837 votes (8.0% of the share), an unprecedented result for a party only 4 months old and contesting an election for the first time. Podemos's surge and the extent of PP and PSOE collapse were not foreseen by opinion polls during the campaign, which had predicted higher support for the two dominant parties and a weaker performance of Podemos.

United Left's Plural Left coalition and Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD) obtained some of their best historical results, with 10.0% and 6.5% of the vote and 6 and 4 seats, respectively. However, this was far from the major election breakthrough that polls had predicted throughout 2013 and in early 2014. From this point onwards both parties would lose support in opinion polls and in successive regional and local elections. The Citizens (C's) party of Albert Rivera, then marginalised as a Catalonia-only party and after several failed attempts to jump into national politics, managed to obtain 3.2% of the share and 2 seats. Just as Podemos, it would grow in support in the run up to the next general election and become a major political actor by 2015.

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.; . Amendments in 2011 required non-resident citizens to apply for voting, a system known as "begged" voting ()..

54 European Parliament seats were allocated to Spain as per the Treaty of Lisbon.; ; . 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 April 2014 Groups Parties MEPs Seats Total European People's Party PP 24 25 UDC 1 Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats PSOE 23 23 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe CDC 1 2 EAJ/PNV 1 Greens–European Free Alliance ICV 1 2 Aralar 1 European United Left–Nordic Green Left IU 1 1 Non-Inscrits UPyD 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.. Additionally, a balanced composition of men and women was required in the electoral lists, so that candidates of either sex made up at least 40 percent of the total composition..

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 Miguel Arias Cañete ConservatismChristian democracy 42.1% PSOE Elena Valenciano Social democracy 38.8% CEU Ramon Tremosa Peripheral nationalism 4.8% IP Willy Meyer SocialismCommunism 3.7% UPyD Francisco Sosa Wagner Social liberalismRadical centrism 2.9% LPD Josu Juaristi Left-wing nationalismSocialism 2.1% EPDD Josep Maria Terricabras Catalan independenceSocial democracy 1.4% PE Jordi Sebastià Green politicsEcologismEco-socialism 0.3% C's Javier Nart Social liberalism 0.1% Vox Alejo Vidal-Quadras Social conservatismNeoconservatism colspan="2" Podemos Pablo Iglesias Left-wing populismDemocratic socialism colspan="2"

Campaign Party slogans Original slogan English translation PP « Lo que está en juego es el futuro » "What is at stake is the future" PSOE « Tú mueves Europa » "You move Europe" CEU CiU–RI.cat EAJ/PNV CCa–PNC CxG : « Guanyem-nos Europa »: « Euskadi gehiago, Europa berrian » / « Más Euskadi en otra Europa »: « Exigente por Canarias »: « A Europa que queremos » : "Let us win Europe for us": "More Basque Country in another Europe": "Being demanding for the Canaries": "The Europe we want" IP « El poder de la gente » "The power of people" UPyD « La unión hace la fuerza » "In the union lies the strength" LPD EH Bildu BNG : « Herriek erabaki » / « Los pueblos deciden »: « Rebélate polos teus dereitos » : "The peoples decide": "Rebel for your rights!" EPDD « Comencem el nou país. Ara a Europa » "Let us begin the new country. Now in Europe" PE « La Europa de las personas »« Por fin, la Primavera » "The Europe of people""At last, the Spring" C's « La fuerza de la unión » "Strength lies in the union" Vox « La solución es cambiar » "The solution is to change" Podemos « ¿Cuándo fue la última vez que votaste con ilusión? » "When was the last time you voted with hope?"

Events and issues The electoral campaign started at 12:00 am on 9 May. However, a traffic accident in Badajoz the previous night resulting in the deaths of five people—one adult and four children—and 12 injured forced the suspension of the start of the campaign in Extremadura.

On Monday 12 May, Isabel Carrasco, president of the provincial government of Leon and member of the PP, was shot dead in the street. Policial investigation concluded that the crime's motive was score-settling, since the two women arrested for committing the crime, wife and daughter of the police chief inspector in the nearby town of Astorga, were PP members; one of them having been previously fired from the provincial deputation presided by Carrasco. This event forced another suspension of the campaign for 24 hours by most major political parties, except for some minoritary parties—such as EH Bildu and the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG)—which chose not to stop their campaigns.

Debates + 2014 European Parliament election debates in Spain Date Organizer(s) Moderator(s) PP PSOE CEU IP UPyD EPDD Audience Refs 15 May RTVE María Casado NI NI NI NI 12.7% 19 May RTVE María Casado S S 4.2%

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.