EPP will remain largest grouping in European Parliament, poll projections show

The European People’s Party is expected to remain the largest political grouping in the European Parliament after May’s election, with a quarter of the 751 seats.

The latest seat projections released by the European Parliament give the EPP 180 seats representing 26 national delegations.

The EPP will occupy 24% of parliament’s seats, a drop of five points on the existing set up.

The projections prepared by Kantar Public for the EP’s public opinion monitoring unit show that the Socialists and Democrats will place second with 149 seats, or 19.8%. The S&D will see its share of seats drop by five points.

The S&D will be represented by 28 national delegations.

The projections were based on polling data in the 28 EU countries. Surveys carried out by MaltaToday and The Sunday Times of Malta were utilised to project the results in Malta.

An exercise carried out by MaltaToday on its April survey results showed that the Labour Party (S&D) is projected to clinch four seats in May’s election, while the Nationalist Party (EPP) is projected to win two seats.

READ ALSO: Labour strengthens claim on fourth seat but fifth is out of reach

The European Parliament’s analysis shows gains by euroscpetic and far-right political parties. The Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy is projected to have four more seats than it does now, while the Europe of Nations and Freedom is expected to grow by 25 seats.

The liberal democrats grouping, ALDE, is projected to see its seats increase by eight and the European Greens will get five more seats.