Nicolas Sarkozy's governing
Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) won a pleasing result, the first time the presidential party had won since the first European elections in 1979. Compared to the party's disastrous 2004 result, it gained 12 seats and over 11% in the popular vote. However, many have said that the UMP is the only governing party in France, making its position very weak compared to the combined opposition. Led since the tumultuous
Reims Congress by
Martine Aubry, the main opposition party, the
Socialists, won a very bad result: only 16.48% and suffering a loss of 17 seats. Prominent Socialist MEPs, including defeated leadership candidate
Benoît Hamon, lost their seats. The Socialists lost most votes in middle-class urban areas, while holding their ground better in their rural strongholds. The
Europe Ecology was the surprise of these elections, with a remarkable 16.28% and the same number of MEPs as the Socialist Party. The green coalition's result was the best result ever for any French Green party, beating out the previous record set by
Antoine Waechter in the 1989 European elections – 10.59%. The gains made by the Greens also came from the centrist
MoDem led by
François Bayrou. The MoDem won only 8.45%, a surprisingly low result for the centrist party, thought to be France's third party. The far-right
FN suffered loses, being reduced to only 3 MEPs. The conservative nationalist
Libertas coalition formed around
Philippe de Villiers's
Movement for France, but also including the smaller agrarian
Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition, suffered losses compared to the two parties' combined 8% showing in 2004. De Villiers was re-elected, becoming the only
Libertas.eu MEP elected in the European Union. On the left of the PS, the new
Left Front formed around the
French Communist Party and the smaller
Left Party surpassed
Olivier Besancenot's
New Anticapitalist Party. The Left Front and an ally overseas won 6.47% and 5 seats, while Besancenot's NPA won only 4.88% and no seats (despite polling better on aggregate than Libertas, which did win a seat). ==References==