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Liberals and Greens Win Elections Across Europe, Nationalists Win Big in Italy, France, and UK

May 27, 2019

European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2019	Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minsiter Viktor Orban and nationalist Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini visiting Hungary's border fence

European elections 2019: What happened last night?

By Lauren Chadwick  •

Euro News, 27/05/2019 - 11:32  

Projected turnout was highest in 20 years at 51% overall. It was highest in Belgium at 89% and lowest in Slovenia at 28.29%.

Green parties performed well and said a "green wave" was making its way across Europe. In France, Germany, and Ireland green parties saw huge increases. The Greens/EFA grouping are projected to take as many as 70 seats.

The balance of power will change as traditional parties only held onto top spots by a slim margin. The EPP will hold onto the majority with a projected 179 seats down from 221 seats.

Nigel Farage's Brexit party stormed the UK vote with over 31% but the pro-European Liberal Democrats also surged in popularity. The election saw big losses for the Conservative and Labour parties.

Marine Le Pen's right-wing RN lead President Emmanuel Macron in France 23.6% to 22.6%. Yanick Jadot's Green Party surprisingly rose to be the third largest in France with 13.1% according to IFOP.

Catalonian separatists Carlos Puigdemont (in exile) and Oriol Junqueras (in prison) win seats. The anti-immigration party Vox also won its first EU seats.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for snap national elections after he was defeated by the opposition party by 10 points in the EU elections.

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European elections 2019: Power blocs lose grip on parliament

BBC, May 27, 2019

A clear trend in the EU elections was the 'Green wave' with a surge of Green MEPs being elected

The big centre-right and centre-left blocs in the European Parliament have lost their combined majority amid an increase in support for liberals, the Greens and nationalists.

Pro-EU parties are still expected to be in a majority but the traditional blocs will need to seek new alliances.

The liberals and Greens had a good night, while nationalists were victorious in Italy, France and the UK.

Turnout was the highest for 20 years, bucking decades of decline.

Just under 51% of eligible voters across the 28 member states cast their ballots, compared with fewer than 43% in 2014.

Although populist and far-right parties gained ground in some countries, they fell short of the very significant gains some had predicted.

The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) remains the largest bloc and analysts say it is likely to form a grand coalition with the Socialists and Democrats bloc, with support from liberals and the Greens.

In the UK, the newly-formed Brexit Party claimed a big victory, and a strong performance by the Liberal Democrats came amid massive losses for the Conservatives and Labour.

The European Parliament helps shape EU legislation and the results will play a big part in who gets the key jobs in the European Commission, the Union's executive.

What do the results mean for the EU?

Based on current estimates, the previously dominant conservative EPP and Socialists and Democrats blocs will be unable to form a "grand coalition" in the EU parliament without support.

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Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salvini: "Europe is changing"

Media captionItaly's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini: "Europe is changing"

The EPP was projected to win 179 seats, down from 216 in 2014. The Socialists and Democrats looked set to drop to 150 seats from 191.

Pro-EU parties are still expected to hold a majority of seats however, largely due to gains made by the liberal ALDE bloc, and particularly a decision taken by the party of French President Emmanuel Macron to join the group. His Renaissance alliance was defeated by the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen.

"For the first time in 40 years, the two classical parties, socialists and conservatives, will no longer have a majority," said Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE.

"It's clear this evening is a historical moment, because there will be a new balance of power in the European Parliament," he said.

There were major successes for the Greens, with exit polls suggesting the group would jump from 50 to around 67 MEPs.

But gains for nationalist parties in Italy, France and elsewhere means a greater say for Eurosceptics who want to curb the EU's powers.

Matteo Salvini, who leads Italy's League party, has been working to establish an alliance of at least 12 parties, and his party set the tone winning more than 30% of the vote, according to partial results.

Beyond the status quo

This outcome reflects a tendency already apparent in national elections all over Europe: rejection of the status quo. Look at the beating meted out to France's centre-right and centre-left, to Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat coalition partners, plus the slap in the face delivered to the UK's Conservative and Labour parties.

Europe's voters are looking elsewhere for answers. They're drawn to parties and political personalities they feel better represent their values and priorities.

Some are attracted by the nationalist right, promising a crackdown on immigration and more power for national parliaments, rather than Brussels. Italy's firebrand Deputy PM Matteo Salvini is a successful example, as is Hungary's Viktor Orban.

Other voters prefer a pro-European alternative, like the Green Party and liberal groups. They also performed well in these elections.

Who were the winners and losers?

In Germany, both major centrist parties suffered. Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats dropped from 35% of the vote in 2014 to 28%, while the centre-left Social Democratic Union fell from 27% to 15.5%.

The right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) performed worse than expected - projected in exit polls to win 10.5% - while still improving on its first results in 2014.

In the UK, the newly formed Brexit Party, led by Nigel Farage, secured about 32% of the vote, amid gains for the Liberal Democrats and significant losses for the Conservative and Labour parties.

Amid mixed results for far-right parties across Europe, Ms Le Pen's National Rally party - formerly the National Front - was celebrating victory in France over Mr Macron's party, securing 24% of the vote to his 22.5%.

A presidential official described the outcome as a "disappointment" but "absolutely honourable" compared to previous results.

In Hungary, Viktor Orban, whose anti-immigration Fidesz party took 52% of the vote and 13 of the country's 21 seats, was also a big winner.

"We are small but we want to change Europe," Mr Orban said. He described the elections as "the beginning of a new era against migration".

Image copyrightEPAImage caption Marine Le Pen's National Rally beat Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance - but not by far

In Spain, the ruling Socialist party (PSOE) took a clear lead with 32.8% of the vote and 20 seats, while the far-right Vox party won just 6.2% and three seats - coming in fifth.

In Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for an early election after the opposition conservative New Democracy party won 33.5% of the votes to 20% for his Syriza party.

The right-wing ruling Law and Justice party did well in Poland, winning 45% of the vote, and 27 of the country's 51 seats.

Why was the turnout so high?

EU citizens turned out to vote in the highest numbers for two decades, and significantly higher than the last elections in 2014, when fewer than 43% of eligible voters took part.

Turnout in Hungary and Poland more than doubled on the previous poll, and Denmark hit a record 63%.

Analysts attributed the high turnout to a range of factors including the rise of populist parties and increased climate change awareness.

How does the European Parliament work?

It is the European Union's law-making body.

It's made up of 751 members, called MEPs, who are directly elected by EU voters every five years. These MEPs - who sit in both Brussels and Strasbourg - represent the interests of citizens from the EU's 28 member states.

Image copyrightEPAImage caption The European Parliament is the EU's law-making body

One of the parliament's main legislative roles is scrutinising and passing laws proposed by the European Commission - the bureaucratic arm of the EU.

It is also responsible for electing the president of the European Commission and approving the EU budget.

The parliament is comprised of eight main groups that sit together in the chamber based on their political and ideological affiliations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48417744

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An Inside Job: The Right-Wing Populist Plan to Destroy Europe

Europe's right-wing populists haven't been stopped by the scandal in Austria. They are working hard to destroy the European Union from within its own institutions and the European elections may show how close they are to success. By DER SPIEGEL Staff

Balasz Szecsodi/ AFP/ Source/ Byline

May 24, 2019  06:01 PM

After the Ibiza videos had made their way around the world, after Austria's vice chancellor had resigned and the government appeared to be on the verge of collapse, as people found themselves wondering just how deep the abyss could be, the operatic aria "Nessun dorma" - "none shall sleep" - could be heard on the square in front of Milan's Duomo cathedral. It's Matteo Salvini's entrance music.

It was last Saturday, one week before elections to the European Parliament. And Salvini, Italy's interior minister, had assembled a pan-European festival of right-wing populists and radicals. Marine Le Pen had come in high spirits from France, Geert Wilders was there from the Netherlands, Jörg Meuthen from the Alternative for Germany party, along with Bulgarian, Slovak, Austrian, Flemish, Danish, Finnish and Estonian nationalists, 11 parties from Europe's right-wing periphery who want to form a "super group" in the next European Parliament.

Together, they performed what is by now well-known work, one with some surreal features: Full of bluster, the self-proclaimed "true Europeans" campaigned for entry into a parliament they despise. And they asked the people to give them the power to hollow out a European Union that has been painstakingly built over decades. All of it to the tune of "Nessun dorma," along with Puccini's "Turandot," its aria ending in fierce chanting: "Vanish, oh night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn I will win! I'll win! I will win!" Vincerò!

On the stage in Milan, not a word was said about the drama unfolding in Vienna, as Heinz-Christian Strache, the head of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), stepped down from his position as vice chancellor following the leak of a video demonstrating the depth of his corruptibility - a scandal that also threatened to take down the entire Austrian government. And yet, in Milan they all pretended that nothing had happened. Even as they all knew: Quite a lot had happened.

Strache Is No Isolated Incident

This time around, it's not about some low-level party official sending Hitler pictures via WhatsApp on the Führer's birthday in provincial Austria. This time it goes right to the top level of the Austrian government, casting light on the worrying state of the Austrian political scene. The videos raise fundamental questions about whether the populists are fit for power. And whether they can be entrusted with government business. And whether Strache and his protégé Johann Gudenus should be regarded as isolated cases or as symbolic figures of a fast and loose relationship between right-wing populists and donations from foreign donors, rule of law and the truth.

Most Austrians, with the exception, perhaps, of FPÖ supporters, were likely to have been deeply shocked by the disregard to the country's constitution shown in the recordings, and many Europeans were astonished by the crooked behavior displayed by the second in command of a government of an EU member state. If the scenes in the Ibiza videos had been part of a TV crime show, people probably would have dismissed them as having been exaggerated and overdone.

https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-right-wing-populists-eye-european-election-success-a-1269122.html

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EU elections 2019: Country-by-country guide

By Euronews • last updated: 27/05/2019 - 09:44

Voters from the 28 member states of the European Union have cast their ballot in what is the second biggest democratic exercise in the world.

Official projections showed parties committed to strengthening the European Union held on to two-thirds of seats in the EU parliament, though far-right and nationalist opponents saw strong gains.

Austria

The ruling People's Party, led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, comes in first with 34.9%, according to provisional results. It is followed by the Social Democrats with 23.4% and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) with 17.2%.

The latter's score is believed to have been hit by the so-called Ibiza scandal which resulted in party leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigning as vice-chancellor last week after a secret video appeared to show him trying to trade public contracts for party donations from a woman he thought was the niece of a Russian oligarch.

See full results.

Belgium

Belgium wasn’t holding just one election on Sunday, but three: federal, regional and European.

For the latter, partial results showed the moderate separatist Flemmish N-VA party had the largest score nationwide, with 13.5% of the votes. The anti-immigrant Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) came in second with 11.4%.

While the more prosperous Dutch-speaking Flanders shifted to the right, French-speaking Wallonia moved to the left. The Socialist Party, at 10.5%, came in third nationwide.

Bulgaria

Even though voting is compulsory in Bulgaria, voter turnout was only 30.83%.

As pollsters expected, Bulgaria's vote was split between the centre-right GERB party (30.6%) and the country's socialist coalition party (26.42%), according to official estimates.

The youngest current European parliament member is Bulgarian Andrey Novakov, who is 30.

See full results.

Croatia

Provisional results placed the conservative Democratic Union (HDZ), which rules the country in a coalition, and the Social Democratic Party in the lead with 22.71% and 18.69% of the vote respectively.

The right-wing Croatian Conservative Party is third with 8.49%.

See full results.

Cyprus

Final results showed the ruling DISY party — an EPP member — came in first with 29% of the vote, broadly on par with 2014 results.

Niyazi Kizilyurek, from the communist AKEL party — which came in second place (27.5%) — has become the first Turkish Cypriot to be elected as an MEP.

The country is divided between Greek Cypriots and minority Turkish Cypriots, but over 80,000 Turkish Cypriots are reportedly eligible to vote in EU elections.

See full results.

Czech Republic

The ruling centrist ANO party increased its number of MEPs from 4 to 6, official results showed. The second biggest delegation from the country is a right-wing formation, the Civic Democratic Party, which doubles its MEPs to 4.

The anti-establishment, anti-corruption Czech Pirate party came in third with three MEPs, tied with the conservative STAN TOP coalition.

See full results.

Denmark

Provisional results put the Social Democrats in the lead with 23.5%, ahead of the centre-right Venstre party — ruling the country in a coalition — which scored 21.5% of the vote.

The Socialist party was third (13.2%) while the Red-Green Alliance looked set to win its first ever seat at the European Parliament with 11%. The People's Movement Against the EU got 3.9%.

See full results.

Danes are scheduled to return to the poll on June 5 for the country's general election.

Denmark's Rasmus Paludan, from the far-right Stram Kurs party

Estonia

The liberal Reform party retained its first place with 26.2% of the vote, official results showed.

The Social Democratic party claimed the second place with 23.3% of the vote, while the Centre party was in third with 14.4%.

The far-right Conservative People's Party tripled its score to come in fourth with 12.7% and will be represented in the European Parliament with one MEP.

See full results.

Finland

The Scandinavian country was the first to officially release its results which saw the centre-right National Coalition Party claiming the top spot, with 20.8% of the vote, slightly below its 23.2% from 2014.

The Green League secured the second place with 16.0%, ahead of the Social Democrats (14.6%) and the populist Finns Party, which makes it in the fourth position with 13.8%.

See full results.

France

With 91% of the votes counted, Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party is leading with 24.08%, while the La Republique En Marche movement of President Emmanuel Macron is second with 21.89%.

The National Rally, then-known as the Front National, also won the EU election in 2014 while Macron's movement did not exist then.

The Green party surprised to clinch the third place with 13.14% of the vote.

See full results.

Germany

An exit poll confirmed projections made ahead of the elections that predicted a surge of support for the Green Party, which clinched the second place with 21.8% of the vote — double its 2014 result.

The ruling CDU/CSU alliance has come in first with a reported 28% of the vote while the anti-migrant and anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) is fourth with 10.5%.

See full results.

Greece

The main opposition party, the conservative New Democracy movement, beat the ruling left-wing Syriza formation with 33.3% and 23.8 % of the vote respectively, provisional results showed.

This outcome prompted Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to call for a snap general election in June.

The country’s economic situation and the name change agreement with North Macedonia have taken precedence over European issues.

See full results.

Hungary

The National Election Office has announced that the ruling right-wing Fidesz party has won with 52.14% of the vote. The Democratic Coalition came in second with 16.26% with the liberal Momentum movement in third with 9.92%.

See full results.

Fidesz's victory came despite repeated clashes with Brussels over rule of law and migration. The party has also been suspended from the centre-right European People’s Party grouping in the parliament.

Ireland

Both the GUE/NGL and EPP parties are estimated to win four seats respectively out of Ireland's 11 seats in the EU Parliament, according to an exit poll.

The Greens had a strong showing and became the third party in Ireland with an estimated two seats.

ALDE+R won one seat.

The campaign was dominated by Brexit fears as the UK, Ireland's largest trading partner, is due to leave the bloc.

See full results.

Italy

Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini

Matteo Salvini's far-right League overtook the Five-Star Movement as Italy's largest party after winning 33.6% of the vote, according to provisional results.

The Five Star Movement is now reported to score the third place (16.6%), behind the centre-left Democratic Party (23.5%).

See full results.

Latvia

The liberal-conservative New Unity party — aligned with the EPP — retained the first place, although its share of the vote dropped from more than 46% in 2014 to 26%, provisional results show.

It is followed by the Social Democratic Party (17.5%) and the right-wing populist National Alliance with 16.4%, the latter of which finished second in 2014 with 14.3%.

See full results.

Lithuania

Initial results, with about 90% of votes counted, showed the centre-right Homeland Union had won with 17.41% of the vote, followed by the Social Democratic Party with 16.90%. The Farmers and Greens Union clinched the third place with 13.93%.

Lithuania also held the second round of its presidential election which was won by economist Gitanas Nausėda, who is not affiliated to any political party.

See full results.

Luxembourg

The liberal Democratic Party and the conservative Christian Social People's Party will both send two MEPs to the European Parliament having scored 21.44 and 21.1% respectively.

The Green Party came in third with 18.91% of the vote, official results show.

See full results.

Malta

Prime Minister Muscat's Labour party won by a landslide with 55.9% of the vote, while the rival Nationalist party trailed far behind (36.2%).

Government corruption was an important topic in Malta during the EU elections as the two major parties have both accused each other of wrongdoing.

See full results.

Poland

The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) came first with 43.1% of the vote, provisional results showed.

The European Coalition, led by European Council President Donald Tusk and comprised of his Civic Platform and a group of leftist and rural politicians, came in second with 38.41%.

But turnout, although at a record high for EU elections in the country, still only stood at 43%.

The EU elections kicked off a series of polls in the country: a parliamentary one follows in the autumn before a presidential vote next year.

See full results.

Portugal

Preliminary results — with 97.5% of the votes counted — show that the Socialist Party has won with 33.8%. The Social Democratic Party has placed — a distant — second with 22.6% with the Left Bloc trailing in third position with 9.6% of the vote.

The Green party, Pan is on 4.8% and might have its first seat in the European parliament.

See full results.

Romania

Provisional results showed a sharp decline in support for the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) which has clashed with Brussels over anti-corruption and rule of law reforms. The PSD trailed the pro-EU National Liberal Party (PNL) with respectively 24.8% and 27.8% of the vote.

In the last national ballot in 2016, PSD won 45% of the vote.

The A 2020 USR PLUS alliance, which campaigned on anti-corruption and green issues, came in third with 18.1% of the vote.

See full results.

PNL and other pro-EU parties may have benefited from the fact that there was a referendum being held at the same time on PSD's controversial reforms.

Meanwhile, thousands of Romanian diaspora protested outside embassies and polling stations across Europe Sunday after long queues left many unable to vote.

Slovakia

The Progressive Slovakia/Together coalition — led by recently-elected President Zuzana Caputova — has won the EU election with 20.1% of the vote, official results show. The social-democratic SMER party finished second with 15.7% ahead of the far-right People's Party with 12.1%

See full results.

Slovenia

The liberal Democratic Party has retained its top spot with a score pretty much identical to the one in 2014 (26.48%), according to preliminary results released by the State Election Commission with more than 98% of the votes counted.

The centre-left Social Democrats came in second, more than doubling its results from 2014 with 18.57%. The list led by the country's Prime Minister, meanwhile, came in third with 15.62%.

See full results.

Spain

With more than 99% of votes counted, the Socialist party, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, had scored an impressive 32.9% — ten percentage points higher than in 2014 and far ahead of the centre-right People's Party's 20.1%.

The far-right Vox Party, which was contending its second EU elections, finished in fifth with 6.8% of the vote, far lower than the 10.3% it gathered in last month's general election.

Catalan separatist leaders Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras were both elected MEPs, but with question marks over whether they’ll be able to take up their seats, as Euronews looked at in this article.

See full results.

Sweden

Preliminary results put the ruling Social Democrats in the lead with 24% of the vote. Their coalition partner, the Green Party, actually looks set to lose some four percentage points from 2014 and finish fourth with 11%.

This is quite a disappointing score for the Green Party in Greta Thunberg's home country. The teen activist kick-started a global protest last year calling on lawmakers to take more decisive action to tackle the climate emergency.

The far-right Sweden Democrats nearly doubled their score with a projected 16%, compared to 9.67% in 2014 to finish third, right behind the conservative Moderate Party's 17%.

See full results.

The Netherlands

The anti-EU, far-right Freedom Party (PVV), which was projected to do fairly well, actually saw its support plummet to 3.5% from 13.2% in 2014, according to provisional results.

Instead, the pro-EU left-wing Labour party is projected to be the big winner with 19%, followed by the governing (in a coalition) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy with 14.6%.

See full results.

United Kingdom

With 99% of the votes counted, Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is leading its nearest rival, the pro-Remain Liberal Democrats, by a large margin with 31.6% and 20.3% respectively.

The main opposition Labour Party is third with 14.1% while the ruling Conservatives are in fifth with 9.1%.

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