European centre-left leaders, including Spain's Pedro Sánchez, are struggling to counter the rising influence of right-wing and far-right parties ahead of the EU elections. With only four EU member states currently led by centre-left or left-wing parties, the outlook is bleak. Analysts attribute the decline to a shift away from traditional socialist ideas and a failure to address key voter concerns. Despite some new hopefuls like France's Raphaël Glucksmann, the centre-left faces significant challenges in maintaining its influence in the European Parliament.
Guatemala is heading for a centre-left runoff as anger grows over corruption. The country's presidential election saw a former first lady and a former prisons chief emerge as the top two candidates. Both have promised to tackle corruption and poverty, but the election has been overshadowed by allegations of vote-buying and illegal campaign financing.
The Austrian centre-left party has reversed the result of its leadership contest after it emerged that the winner had been declared in error due to a misreading of a spreadsheet. The party said that the winner, Michael Ludwig, had actually lost to challenger Andreas Schieder by 20 votes. Ludwig had been declared the winner by a margin of 31 votes.
