Seismic Shifts in Two European Elections // The U.K. and France see major changes

In two elections over the past week, two of Europe’s most powerful countries have experienced the tumultuous nature of politics.
In the UK, a 14-year stretch of control by the Conservatives ended after a colossal win by the Labour Party. The win may have been more about dissatisfaction with the Tories than love of Labour’s stated policies, but the country is about to find out how well those work, with Labour leader Keir Starmer as the new UK prime minister.
In France, the rightward turn of many European countries was mirrored in the rise of National Rally, the right-wing party still largely led by Marine Le Pen, whose mission to clean up her anti-Semitic father’s legacy finally brought her within fighting distance of controlling the French parliament.
However, a last-minute turn to unity by the country’s left-wing parties and an agreement the left-wingers made with Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance coalition stopped the National Rally from taking victory in the second round of votes for parliament. Instead, the left wing came out on top—which may leave France in a stalemate position when it comes to legislating.

The fall of the Tories and the rise of Labour
Just a few years ago, the UK Labour Party was in disarray, led by a radical who drove it into electoral failure. Jeremy Corbyn, who called Hamas and Hezbollah leaders his friends, presided over an anti-Semitism scandal that rocked the party.
In 2019, Labour lost 60 seats with Corbyn at its head, while the much-mocked Boris Johnson brought the Conservatives to their highest number of seats since 1987 and highest percentage of the vote since 1979, taking seats previously considered safe for Labour.
Now, just five years later, much has changed. Labour won 412 seats, gaining 214 in the process, and the Tories won just 121, losing 252. This is the largest majority for Labour since 1997, when Tony Blair brought his party to overwhelming victory.
Those numbers don’t represent a massive wave of Labour voters heading to the voting booths. Labour only got 2% more of the share of the total vote than it did in 2019—suggesting that support for the party remains stagnant.
Instead, third parties got a huge number of votes that would have normally gone to the Conservatives. Because the UK has a first-past-the-post electoral system, in which whoever wins the most in any district wins that district, this gave the election to Labour by reducing the votes for Tories rather than expanding those for Labour.