The first results of the European Parliament elections held between June 6-9 in the 27-member European Union have been announced. The results revealed that the far right made significant gains.
The four-day election process in Europe ended after the last votes were cast in Italy, where the voting process continued until 23.00 local time on Sunday.
According to the first official non-final results, the European People’s Party (EPP) will be represented in the 720-member European Parliament with 189 MPs, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) with 135, Renew Europe (Renew) with 80, the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR) with 72, the Identity and Democracy Party (ID) with 58, the Greens (Greens/EFA) with 52 and the Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) with 36. According to the preliminary results, the number of independents elected to parliament is 46 and the number of other newly elected members who have not yet joined an alliance with any parliamentary group is 52.
Ursula von der Leyen declares victory
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has declared the European People’s Party (EPP) the winner of the elections.
The EPP leader thanked European voters for their trust. “Today is a good day for the European People’s Party. We have won the European elections.”
Emphasizing that it is true that far-right and left-leaning parties have gained strength, but the center parties have maintained their leading positions, Von der Leyen pointed out that it is not possible to form a majority in the parliament without the European People’s Party.
National Assembly dissolved in France
The landslide victory of far-right Marine Le Pen’s National Union (RN) party in the French elections led French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call for early elections. Accepting defeat in his statement on the results, Macron said, “I got your message, I understand your concerns and I will not leave them unanswered.”
After Macron’s announcement of early elections, far-right leader Le Pen announced that the movement was ready to take over the governance of France. “We are ready to change the country, defend French interests and put an end to mass immigration,” Le Pen said.
Far right gains strength in Germany
In Germany, the 27-member union’s largest country with the largest population, the first results revealed that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which received 11 percent of the vote in 2019, increased its vote rate to 14.2 percent.
According to the results, the vote rate of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was 30.90 percent, while the vote rate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, was 14.6 percent.
Belgian Prime Minister De Croo announces his resignation
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has announced that he will resign after his party’s poor results in the European Parliament elections. De Croo said, “I was the one who led this election campaign. This is not the result I had hoped for and I take responsibility for this result. It shouldn’t have been like this.” Speaking to journalists, De Croo said, “I will resign as prime minister as of tomorrow.”
European People’s Party vows to prevent the far right from gaining a foothold in power
Manfred Weber, President of the European People’s Party (EPP), announced that they will aim to prevent far-right parties from taking part in the ruling coalition.
Calling on mainstream parties in Europe to join the European People’s Party’s pro-Europe and pro-democracy alliance, Weber said: “We created today’s Europe and therefore anyone who wants to destroy Europe is our enemy. We will fight them. We will not allow them to have any influence at European level.”
The voter turnout was the highest since 1994, with an estimated 51 percent.
In the 2019 elections, the figure was 50.66 percent.
