In the European Parliament (EP) elections, a far-right party came first in France after Austria. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) notably ranked second. In the Associated Press election, France’s far-right candidate Jordan Bardella received 32% of the vote, while Macron’s candidate Valérie Heyer received 15.40%. Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right party, said “the results of the EP elections were historic.”
The results of the European Parliamentary elections, held in all 27 EU member states from June 6th to 9th, have begun to be announced on a giant screen in the European Parliamentary Assembly Hall in Brussels.
So far, results have been received from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, the Greek Cypriot Authority for Southern Cyprus (GCASC), Bulgaria, Croatia, Malta, France, Spain and Denmark.
Thus, the EPP, which brings together Germany’s Christian Democrats, won 30 seats, the Greens/European Liberal Alliance 16, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) 14, Renew Europe (RE), which brings together the liberal parties, with eight members and the Left Party with four – although the group does not yet exist in the EP – won 19 seats.
In Germany’s EP elections, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) coalition came in first with 29 MEPs, followed by the AfD in second place with 17 MEPs. The Social Democrats (SPD), the coalition’s main partner, dropped to third place with 14 seats. The other coalition partners, the Greens, won 12 seats and the Free Democrats (FDP) won five seats.
In the Netherlands, RE won seven seats, the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) won seven seats, the EPP won six seats, the Greens won four seats, S&D won four seats, the Left won one seat and others won one seat.
The far-right takes the lead in Austria
In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) came in first with six seats, followed by the EPP and S&D with five seats each, and the Greens and RE with two seats each.
In Greece, the EPP won eight seats, the Left won four, S&D won three, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) won two and independents won two.
Of the six seats in the Greek Cypriot government, the EPP won two, the Left won one, S&D won one and two independents won two.
In Bulgaria the EPP won 6 seats, RE 5 seats, S&D 2 seats and others 4 seats, while in Croatia the EPP won 6 seats, S&D 4 seats, the Greens 1 seat and others 1 seat.
The EPP and S&D won three seats each in Malta.
In Denmark, RE won four seats, the Greens and S&D won three seats each, the Left won one seat, ID won one seat, and one other seat.
In Spain, 22 EPP, 20 S&D, 7 ECR, 4 Greens, 3 Left, 3 others and 1 deputy from a party not yet included in the group were sent to the EP.
The far-right takes first place in France
In France, the far-right ID won 30 seats, Re 14, S&D 13, Left 8, EPP 6 and the Greens 5.
Looking at the party distribution in France’s AP election, the far-right National Rally (RN) came in first by a large margin with 31.5% of the vote. President Emmanuel Macron’s party, L’Onaissance, came in second with 15.2% of the vote, less than half of RN’s, narrowly beating the third-placed Socialist Party. The opposition Socialist Party (PS) came in third with 14% of the vote, the far-left opposition France Indomitable Party (LFI) came in fourth with 8.7% and the center-right Republicans (LR) came in fifth with 7.2%.
The first predictions for the AP’s appearance were shared
According to initial projections shared by The Associated Press for the emergence of the new parliament, the Christian Democratic umbrella party, the EPP, remains the largest political group in the EP with 181 seats.
This is followed by S&D with 135 members and RE with 82 members.
The far-right parties ECR and ID are in the top five with 71 and 62 seats, while the Greens are set to win 53 seats and the Left Party 34.
It is believed that 102 MPs, mainly from far-right parties, have entered parliament as independents, and there is a possibility that they may set up new political groups within the EP.
Every country elects its members to parliament in proportion to its population.
For the first time, 720 MPs were elected in this election, instead of 705, according to the Associated Press polls. The top five countries with the most MPs in relation to population are Germany (96), France (81), Italy (76), Spain (61) and Poland (53).
Romania 33, Netherlands 31, Belgium 22, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Sweden and Czech Republic 21 each, Austria 20, Bulgaria 17, Slovakia, Denmark and Finland 15 each, Ireland 14, Croatia 12, Lithuania 11, Latvia, Slovenia 9, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg and the Greek Cypriot Agency of Southern Cyprus have six members each.
The new legislative period begins on July 16th
Once the official results are announced on June 10, national political parties eligible to join the EP will begin the process of forming political organisations.
The first General Assembly will convene on July 16th, starting the new legislative period.
