On Friday, Oct. 24, Irish citizens headed to the polls to elect their new president. An independent left-wing candidate, Catherine Connolly, supported by all left of center parties, was elected with 63% of the vote. The president in Ireland is a largely ceremonial role, with the real power in the hands of the Taoiseach, the prime minister.
Connolly was supported by almost all parties in the Irish parliament except for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, both of whom ran their own candidates, Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin. Both parties make up the current center-right government. Humphreys came second with 29% of the vote, Gavin ended with just 7% of the vote. Notably, nearly 13% of votes cast were spoiled ballots.
Connolly was supported by Sinn Féin, the largest left of center party categorized as a democratic socialist and republican party. Sinn Féin is most notable for being the unofficial political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a fact that did not negatively impact Connolly’s campaign. She’s described by others and herself as anti-NATO, anti-EU, anti-Israel, pro-neutrality, pro-abortion, a pacifist, and a socialist.
On Wednesday, Oct. 29, elections to the Dutch House of Representatives took place. After a disastrous stay in government, all right of center parties lost seats, with the center-left Democrats 66 (D66) party becoming the largest party at 26 seats up from their 2023 result of nine seats.
The former government was made up of the Party for Freedom (PVV), the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC), and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). All of these parties lost a portion of their seats with the NSC losing all of their 20 seats. The PVV, led by Geert Wilders, lost 11 seats, going down to 26 from their victory in 2023 at 37.
D66 is led by Rob Jetten, a charismatic and young politician who built a campaign on the promise of building 10 new cities to end the housing crisis. The responsibility of forming a new and stable government now rests on Jetten’s shoulders, promising to keep the PVV out of government.
These two elections could be a sign of a shifting in European politics. Over the past decade far-right parties have surged; in Germany the Alternative for Germany (AfD), in France the National Rally (RN), and in the United Kingdom Reform UK, have all been polling high for their respective elections. Reform UK is set to be the largest party in parliament, projected to win around 400 seats in the 650 seat House of Commons if an election was held in the near future. The RN is the second largest bloc in the French parliament and the AfD are polling in second place in Germany.
The successes of the left and center in Ireland and the Netherlands could be a sign of changing times, as the focus of voters changes. Perhaps it is a sign that identity-based tactics are just not cutting it in politics anymore as voters’ attention shifts from culture war issues to economic struggles. Only time will tell if these elections will bring a change to European politics or will be a mere footnote in the far-right’s rise to power in Europe.
Featured image: ABC News
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