The Nationalist Party is projected to lose one of its seats to the Labour Party in the upcoming MEP Elections in May, according to a report publish by the European Parliament.
The report shows that the PL currently enjoys a 62.7% preference, while the PN stands far behind on 36.4%. If such projections will be confirmed in the election, the balance of power is being predicted to shift from the 3-3 split registered in the 2014 election, to a 4-2 situation in favour of the PL.
According to the EP report, AD and PD have no chance of earning a seat with 0.5% and 0.4% preferences respectively.
The Nationalist Party is therefore set to lose one of its three seats to Labour.
Having gained some steam over the past few years, Eurosceptic parties are predicted to increase their seats by a noticeable margin from 10% to 14% in spite of the loss of British MEPs who formed part of this faction, according to the report.
Marine Le Pen’s French National Rally will be adding six MEPS, Germany’s AfD 11, and Italy’s League 21, although it is predicted that there could be more gains until the final tally.
Italy’s League is also projected to be closing in on the German Christian Democrat CDU/CSU alliance which is currently the largest part at 29 seats.
The centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the European People’s Party (EPP) are both projected to retain the centrist dominance of the EU, although with the above-mentioned gains in Eurosceptism, there is likely to be more clashes on the direction of the union.
With a projected decrease in seats of circ 3%, the EPP, with whom the PN are aligned, will remain the EP’s largest party. They are projected to hold 183 of the 705 seats.
On the other hand, the S&D, with whom PL are aligned, are projected to lose a significant number of seats. This will see them take a hit from 25% to 19% of the parliament composition.
The EP ruled that the figures gathered based on local polls had the correct methodology and margin for error.