Establishment parties maintain control in European political systems, excluding populists.

In the U.K. and French elections this month, voters shifted away from center-right mainstream parties towards populist right, but despite this, they were unable to translate their support into electoral victories due to a right-wing vote split and strategic voting by the left.

The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a landslide election victory in Britain, securing 412 seats in the 650-seat Parliament, while the Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson, lost 244 seats and managed to hold on to only 121 seats.

The Conservatives experienced their worst performance in nearly two centuries, with the surge of the populist Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage, receiving over four million votes but gaining only five seats.

In France, a coalition of hardline communists, environmentalists, and socialists won 188 out of 577 seats in parliament, while French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance Ensemble (ENS) won 161 seats, forming a ruling majority.

Despite winning the most votes, France's populist National Rally came third in parliament seats, while the mainstream center-right Republicans finished fourth with only 6.2% of the vote.

"The rejection of the Conservative Party was evident in the election results, as stated by Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, in an interview with Planet Chronicle Digital. Similarly, in France, the high turnout for the election indicated that it was an anti-National Rally election."

The elections showed that voters continued to back right-wing populist political movements on immigration, crime, and social issues, while turning away from centrist traditional parties that failed to deliver significant change.

Despite gaining widespread support at the polls, the populist insurgents failed to secure electoral victories due to strategic voting alliances and internal divisions among right-wing voters.

"Both left-wing and right-wing parties were able to maximize their votes in the two cases, but Labour's support, despite being broad, is not as deep as needed to win British elections with a large number of supporters," Mendoza stated.

"In France, the left-wing parties and Macron formed an alliance, effectively excluding the right, while the Republicans remained in the race and did not yield to the National Rally or vice versa."

In the first round of voting last month, the National Rally led by Le Pen emerged victorious, with a campaign that emphasized reducing immigration, crime, and boosting the economy.

The populist party was close to winning the majority of seats in the second round, but the election agreement between Macron's centrists and the leftist coalition halted their efforts. Both parties agreed to withdraw candidates to prevent splitting the anti-National Rally vote.

Despite being the third-most-popular party in the U.K. with over four million votes, Farage's Reform Party only won 1% of the seats in parliament due to the first-past-the-post electoral system.

Despite receiving over two million more votes than the Reform Party, the mainstream Conservatives remain the second-largest political force in the country, prompting calls for electoral system reform to provide more representation based on total votes.

Although the Labour Party won a record number of seats in the U.K. Parliament, it lost over 600,000 votes compared to its 2019 election results, when it was led by controversial socialist Jeremy Corbyn and suffered two separate election defeats.

"In some instances, the Reform vote was likely comprised of conservatives who had defected from the Conservative Party and opted to vote there. However, the larger group in Britain's case consisted of individuals who chose not to vote at all. The Conservative vote share decreased by 20 points, and many conservatives who voted Conservative in 2019 remained at home and were uninspired by any of the parties."

In the 2019 election, the Conservatives, led by Boris Johnson, won a majority of parliament seats by campaigning on a populist platform of "Get Brexit Done." The Brexit Party, their predecessor, withdrew their candidates to support the Conservatives.

After the elections, prominent Conservative leaders contended that the "Conservative family," comprising the Reform Party and Conservatives, emerged victorious with a majority of over 11 million votes, reflecting the electorate's general right-wing inclination.

At the Popular Conservatives conference, Suella Braverman, a potential Conservative Party leadership contender, criticized the party's performance and urged the party to adopt populism to secure its future.

"In my opinion, the Reform phenomenon was entirely predictable and avoidable, and it was our own fault. It's not productive to denigrate Reform voters, smear the Reform party, or compare Reform rallies to those of Nuremberg. That approach won't work. Criticizing people for voting Reform is a fundamental mistake to make."

She implored the Conservatives to "regain trust on fundamental conservative principles that unite us" and confront the immigration problem, "as we have been hesitant, timid, and unsuccessful in addressing this critical issue."

Despite not gaining legislative power, National Rally continues to gain populist momentum and is looking forward to the 2027 presidential elections, with Le Pen ready to take control of the country's highest office.

Macron, who is already unpopular, now faces the possibility of presiding over a politically paralyzed hung parliament with the new parliamentary majority of leftists and centrists.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.