The election saw a close race between the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which had accessed power earlier in April in the wake of the 11M train bombings leading up to the 14 March general election, and the centre-left People's Party (PP), still reeling from its election defeat. It marked the only time the PSOE emerged as the largest party in an European Parliament election in Spain between 1989 and 2019. It also saw a considerable drop in turnout down to 45.1%, the lowest up until that point—a figure that would be outmatched by the turnout in the two subsequent European Parliament elections, 2009 (44.9%) and 2014 (43.8%).