France’s Marine Le Pen has called for a ‘powerful’ far-right group in the European Parliament after her party beat Emmanuel Macron’s in this weekend’s elections with more nationalist parties making huge gains across the continent.
Both populist far-right groups and left-wing environmentalists are securing considerable wins among the 751 European seats up for grabs, with mainstream parties losing significant ground while still just managing to cling onto power.
But the leaders of the two mainstream parties in Brussels said they would not co-operate with far-right groups who ‘do not believe in the future of the European Union’, despite their major gains.
In the symbolic clash of the campaign, French far-right leader Le Pen’s National Rally came in just ahead of President Macron’s En Marche movement, damaging his drive for deeper European integration.
In Italy, Matteo Salvini’s far-right League achieved a similar result, strengthening its role at the core of a vocal populist faction in the EU’s legislature.
The advance of the right was less pronounced in Germany, where a strong showing by the Greens produced the story of the night, but the anti-immigrant Alternative for Deutschland broke the 10 per cent barrier and will also gain seats.
Spain is the only major EU country where the Socialists are dominating, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez celebrating his party coming top in the polls, a result he will likely use to wield more influence in the bloc.
Turnout across Europe was 50.5 per cent, which is an eight per cent increase on last time Europe went to the polls in 2014, and a departure from the general trend of decreasing voter numbers.
Exit polls in the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ native France show Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in front with 23.2 per cent, President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party just behind with 21.9 per cent and The Greens with 12.8 per cent
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini beams and holds up a ‘first place in Italy, thank you’ sign at his home in Milan
Supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party watch as the exit polls come in, they show an improved result for AFD since their first election in 2014 – with 10.5 per cent of the vote
Sanchez beams with acting Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Josep Borrell after their Socialist party dominated the result
France’s Interior Ministry published results based on 81 per cent of the votes counted, placing Le Pen’s party at 24.9 per cent and Macron’s party at 21.5 per cent. Behind them were the Greens with 12.8 per cent.
The country’s traditional parties, which were eviscerated by Marcon’s presidential win in 2017, were still far behind in Sunday’s vote, with 8.3 per cent for The Republicans conservative party and 6 per cent for the Socialist party.
In Germany, the far-right Alternative For Deutschland (AfD) party improved on its 2014 result, with a projected 10.5 per cent of the vote. Meanwhile polls suggest the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party faces its worst result ever, with just 28 per cent.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was forced to call a snap General Election after his Syriza party was decimated in the polls.
The Greek government’s term expires in October and before tonight’s announcement, government officials insisted that elections would be held at the end of the term.
Mr Tsipras said he will visit the Greek president to request the early dissolution of parliament after the second round of local and regional elections on June 2. This puts the election date at June 30 at the earliest.
Germany’s Carsten Meyer-Heder, of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party (CDU) is pictured getting make-up done as exit polls in the EU’s biggest country show his party facing the worst EU election result in its history with 28%
The Greek Prine Minister Alexis Tsipras has called a snap General Election after his Syriza party was decimated in the polls
Spanish socialists are the only ones in Europe to dominate the polls in a victory for PM Pedro Sanchez and swing to the left in Madrid
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was the big winner of European elections in Spain on Sunday with his ruling Socialists coming first, a result he will likely use to wield more influence in the bloc.
With Spain the only major EU country where the Socialists topped the polls, Sanchez has emerged as the big hope for European social democrats.
Results for local and regional elections that took place on the same day were still being counted.
If his Socialists also do well in those as predicted, Sanchez will be in a stronger position as he seeks to form a new government following a general election on April 28.
With 98 per cent of the votes counted late on Sunday, the Socialists won 20 of the 54 seats allocated to Spain in the European Parliament.
They were followed by the conservative Popular Party (PP) which won just over 20 per cent.
Newly-emerged far-right party Vox, meanwhile, got just over six percent of the vote.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (pictured at a press conference in Madrid yesterday) was the big winner of European elections in Spain on Sunday with his ruling Socialists coming first, a result he will likely use to wield more influence in the bloc
That’s less than the 10 percent it won in the general election when it burst into the national parliament.
The Socialists’ win is a victory for Sanchez, not only on the domestic front but further afield in the bloc.
On Friday, outgoing Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, whom Spain could push to become the next EU foreign policy chief, told supporters that Sanchez was going to ‘lead the resurgence of social democracy in Europe’.
Separately, Catalonia’s former separatist president Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain in 2017 after a failed secession bid, and his ex-deputy Oriol Junqueras, were elected to the European Parliament.
Three Catalan separatists – one in jail and two more fugitives from Spanish justice – have won European Parliament seats.
Former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, his ex-No. 2 Oriol Junqueras and former Catalan Cabinet member Toni Comin all won seats for separatist parties in Sunday’s EU vote.
That’s according to provisional results released by Spain’s Interior Ministry with 85 per cent of the votes counted.
Junqueras is in jail in Madrid while on trial on charges that include rebellion for his part in Catalonia’s attempt to secede from the rest of Spain in 2017. Puigdemont and Comin are wanted in Spain after they fled to Belgium following Catalonia’s failed secession bid.
The three were allowed to run as candidates, but will face legal hurdles to actually take possession of their European Parliament seats.
Is Madrid swinging to the left?
On the domestic front, the results of local and regional elections may determine what Spain’s new government looks like in what has been billed the ‘second round’ of the April general election.
Sanchez had urged supporters to ‘finish the work’ of that election and turn out in force on Sunday.
He hopes his party will perform well so he can opt for his preferred plan of forming a minority government with the support of other parties on a case-by-case basis when passing laws.
But while Sanchez wants to rule alone, Pablo Iglesias, the leader of far-left party Podemos, is pushing him to form a coalition.
Whether Sanchez accepts may depend on how both parties fare.
The Socialists ‘might need the support of Podemos to retain power in some regions, which Iglesias might use to pressure Sanchez into forming a coalition,’ said Teneo analyst Antonio Barroso.
But Iglesias’ party is on the decline according to the most recent polls, and PSOE might enjoy a certain ‘honeymoon effect’ after its victory in the April legislative election.
‘If the distance between the two parties widens after Sunday, Sanchez will be in an even stronger position to head a minority government.’
Provisional results suggested the Socialists would win in many of the 12 regions going to the polls on Sunday.
But all eyes are on the region of Madrid, which could swing left after being governed by the PP for 24 years.
An exit poll by local television channel Telemadrid predicted that would be the case, with Socialist candidate Angel Gabilondo coming first.
Votes are pictured being counted in at a polling station in Vitoria, Spain earlier on Sunday
Manfred Weber, leader of the centre-right EPP group, said late on Sunday that ‘from now on, those who want to have a strong European union have to join forces,’ refusing to unite with any party that doesn’t believe in the EU long-term.
Frans Timmermans, the Socialist and Democrats leader who is Weber’s chief rival for the top job at the EU’s executive commission, says he wants to work together with progressive parties ‘to try and build a program that addresses the aspirations, the dreams, and also sometimes the fears of our fellow Europeans.’
The EEP group is forecast to win 178 seats and the S&D group will have 152 seats in the 751-seat parliament, according to EU projections.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, a major figure among the anti-migrant hard-line nationalists, declared a ‘change in the air’ and that a victory by his right-wing League party would ‘change everything in Europe’.
In Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has an equally strict view on migration, celebrated securing 13 of the country’s 21 seats, gaining one from the previous EU vote in 2014.
He said the result shows that ‘people in Hungary believe change is needed in Brussels’ and he will ‘cooperate with everyone who wants to stop immigration.’
But Orban did not directly address possibly joining up at EU level with like-minded far-right leaders such as Salvini.
Back in France Le Pen said the expected result ‘confirms the new nationalist-globalist division’ in France and beyond.
She immediately expressed hope the election could foreshadow her party’s victory in France’s 2022 presidential election. The former National Front leader was beaten handily by Mr Macron in France’s 2017 presidential vote.
In Portugal ruling centre-left Socialists looked to have won their elections with a higher tally than their 2014 result of 31.46 per cent.
The Irish Green Party was set to win as many as three of the 13 seats up for grabs in overwhelmingly pro-EU Ireland, according to exit polls and early counting, putting the small Irish party in line to take its first seats in Europe for 20 years.
The governing Fine Gael and main opposition Fianna Fail were well placed while the left wing Sinn Fein appeared to be in a battle to retain all of their three seats.
Far-right anti-immigration party win Italian vote, as Matteo Salvini declares ‘a change in Europe’
Matteo Salvini’s anti-migrant League party won the most votes in Sunday’s European elections in Italy with 27-31 per cent, marking a historic success for the far-right, exit polls showed.
Its coalition partner the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) was beaten by a resurgent centre-left Democratic Party (PD) which came second with 21-25 percent, the polls showed after voting ended at 2100 GMT.
Luigi Di Maio’s M5S garnered between 18.5-22.5 percent of votes, while tycoon and former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia scored eight-12 percent.
Salvini tweeted a photo of himself grinning and holding a sign saying ‘top party in Italy’ while standing in front of a bookshelf featuring, among other things, a religious icon and a Make America Great Again baseball cap.
‘The League has probably become the top party in Italy,’ the head of the party’s Senate grouping Riccardo Molinari said after the exit polls were released.
The result for the anti-migrant League was not as high as some had predicted but confirmed the party’s stellar rise since forming a government in June last year.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (pictured casting his vote earlier on Sunday in Milan), a major figure among the anti-migrant hard-line nationalists, declared a ‘change in the air’ and that a victory by his right-wing League party would ‘change everything in Europe’
Some analysts predicted that Salvini would want to call snap elections if the League obtained a high score, although he denied this during campaigning.
‘As far as I’m concerned, if the League wins nothing changes in Italy, everything will change in Europe, starting from tomorrow,’ he said earlier Sunday.
The March 2018 general election in the eurozone’s third largest economy saw the League take home just 17 percent of the vote, while the M5S – which set itself up as the honest, environmentally-friendly alternative to a corrupt old political guard – pocketed over 32 per cent.
Analysts said a strong League result – over 30 per cent – could see Salvini tempted to ditch the M5S for the far-right Brothers of Italy (which won five-seven percent on Sunday), or a fresh alliance with the party’s historic partner, the centre-right Forza Italia.
‘We don’t intend to use this result to put the government in crisis,’ the head of the League’s Senate grouping Riccardo Molinari said, claiming that with M5S the governing coalition had more than 50 percent of votes.
‘Our result gives us more strength to put our themes to the fore,’ he said.
Provisional results in Austria point to a big win for Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s centre-right party in the European Parliament election, days after a scandal involving the far-right Freedom Party brought down his governing coalition.
That is a big boost for Kurz before a national election expected in September. The early results show the Freedom Party finishing far behind in third place.
The projection also points to a comeback for the Greens, who lost their seats in Germany’s national parliament in 2017.
A new pro-EU coalition linked to President-elect Zuzana Caputova has won the vote in Slovakia while a far-right party gained seats in the EU legislature for the first time.
According to the final results released by the Slovak Statistics Office, the coalition Progressive Slovakia/Together received 20.1 per cent of the vote, gaining four seats in the European legislature. Caputova was Progressive Slovakia deputy chairman before winning the March presidential election.
People’s Party Our Slovakia, a far-right party, finished third with 12.1 per cent, winning two seats. But Slovakia’s local ally of France’s far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen didn’t win a seat.
In Slovenia, an anti-immigrant party has won most votes – but less than allied moderate groups together.
The State Election Commission said Sunday that near-complete results showed that the Slovenian Democratic Party of former Prime Minister Janez Jansa – an ally of Hungary’s hard-line Prime Minister Viktor Orban – has won 26.5 per cent of the vote.
The Social Democrats are second with 18.6 per cent while Prime Minister Marjan Sarec’s party won 15.6 per cent. The two parties are part of Slovenia’s current coalition government.
The right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party also won most votes at last year’s parliamentary election in Slovenia but remained out of the government after moderate groups joined forces to form a coalition.
The opposition conservative New Slovenia party is fourth in the EU vote with 11.1 per cent.
In Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (pictured centre), who has firm views on migration, celebrated securing 13 of the country’s 21 seats, gaining one from the previous EU vote in 2014
Supporters of the New Democracy opposition party, which has made significant gains over the ruling Syriza watch the exit polls results in central Athens
Germany’s anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) leader Joerg Meuthen reacts to the first exit polls in Berlin, which showed his party making gains compared to 2014
Eurosceptic populists the Danish People’s Party (DF) lost around two-third of their votes, a major setback for them ahead of their national elections on June 5.
Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s Liberal Party overtook DF to become the biggest Danish party in the European Parliament; EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s Social-Liberal Party also gained.
The Cypriot Democratic Rally, the country’s ruling conservative party came first in Cyprus with 29 per cent of the vote.
Opposition Communist Akel came a close second with 27 per cent. Based on projected results, Cyprus was to get its first Turkish Cypriot MEP, academic Niyazi Kizilyurek, making history on the ethnically-split island.
In Romania there were big losses looming for the ruling Social Democrats (PSD), according to exit polls, which put them tying for first place with opposition centrists.
A new grouping of parties, USR-Plus, secured third place with 24 per cent of votes, opening up the prospect of a wider alliance pushing the PSD out of government next year.
Marine Le Pen speaks to media after exit polls showed her party on top but with a possibly reduced vote share in France
Supporters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party wave French flags after exit polls showed their party on top in France
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pictured during a meeting after European Parliament elections at the Austrian People’s Party
In the UK Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party are already celebrating a historic victory with huge gains, crushing both the Tories and Labour after Theresa May’s resignation and widespread Brexit chaos.
Mr Farage surged to victory all over the country, eclipsing his performance as UKIP leader in 2014 to win Wales and the North East of England, including victories in Cardiff and Newcastle which voted Remain in 2016.
Earlier on Sunday violence broke out in Brussels when Yellow Vest protestors clashed with police outside the EU headquarters in the city.
Several hundred protesters wearing yellow vests marched in protest of social injustices in their home countries in Brussels while others sporting black hoods taunted authorities.
Police on horseback patrolled the historic centre and scuffles broke out in different areas and several people were detained.
The results are expected overnight with some 426million people eligible to vote.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage arrives at the European election count in Southampton on Sunday night. Early results showed his movement storming ahead in the European Parliament poll
Earlier on Sunday there were yellow vest clashes in Belgium, which is also holding the results of its own general election on Sunday alongside the European vote, sparking civil unrest