The Socialist Equality Party of Germany (Partei für Soziale Gleichheit—PSG) received 9,852 votes nationwide in the election to the European Parliament. The Socialist Equality Party (UK), standing in the country’s northwest region, received 5,067 votes.

The result for the PSG was somewhat higher than its vote in the last European election (9,646 votes in 2009). The result for the SEP of Britain was significant given that this was the first time the party stood in a European election. With a turnout of 33.5 percent of the electorate, the British SEP received 0.3 percent of the vote.

Its result was just 335 votes below that of the pseudo-left alliance “No2EU” (No to the European Union), which was supported across the country by the RMT transport union, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Britain, and had access to the considerable financial resources of these organizations. In the two largest cities of the region, Liverpool and Manchester, the SEP received significantly more votes than No2EU. In Manchester, the SEP obtained 658 votes, nearly twice the vote tally for No2EU.

Due to financial restraints, the SEP was able to send a postal mail shot to only four constituencies: Manchester Central, Salford and Eccles, Liverpool Walton and St Helens, and Whiston. These areas account for just 4.33 percent of the North West electorate. The SEP received a warm response from workers and youth throughout the region. Had it been able to send a mail shot to all 5.26 million registered voters, the party’s vote would have been significantly higher.

In Germany, the PSG conducted a broad campaign to make its program known to the public. It distributed 35,000 election statements, displayed over 3,000 posters and organized two dozen campaign events and rallies. The focus of the campaign was in Berlin.

A notable development was the resonance of the party’s online campaign. The PSG’s main election video registered 17,000 hits on YouTube, and other election videos have been viewed thousands of times.