Capitals (Union, Agencies)
Tens of millions of voters voted yesterday to choose members of the European Parliament, while opinion polls showed right-wing parties leading the preliminary results, determining the political path for the next five years at a crucial moment for the bloc.
Yesterday, the French far right, led by Jordan Bardella, won the European elections in France by obtaining between 31.5 and 32.5% of the votes, that is, double what the party of President Emmanuel Macron achieved, according to opinion polls.
The Presidential Majority Party came in second place with 15.2% of the votes, and Raphael Glucksmann’s “Social Democratic” formation came in third with 14%.
This constitutes a miserable failure for the French president’s majority, which the extremist right-wing National Rally was ahead of in the 2019 elections by one percentage point, obtaining 23.34%, compared to 22.42% for the presidential majority.
In response to the preliminary results of the European Parliament elections, the French President announced yesterday evening the dissolution of the National Assembly and the organization of new legislative elections.
Macron said in a televised speech, “I will sign the decree holding the legislative elections for the first round on June 30, and the second round on July 7,” adding that “the results of the European elections are not good for the parties that defend Europe.”
As preliminary results of the European Parliament elections in Austria showed, the right-wing Freedom Party topped the elections, achieving 27%, an increase of 9.8% compared to the previous European elections. This is the first time that the Freedom Party has topped the elections nationwide, while competition for second place is fierce between the ruling People’s Party, Which is slightly ahead, with 23.5%, over the Social Democratic Party, which has 23% of the total electoral votes.
The “Environmental Greens” party and the liberal “News” party also competed for third place at 10.5%.
In Germany, the semi-final forecasts of the first and second channels of German television showed that the Christian Union (the Christian Democratic Party and the Bavarian Christian Social Party) topped the European Parliament elections, with a large margin over its closest competitors, followed by the Alternative for Germany party. The Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Green Party, and the Free Democratic Party came in the next positions, with a large margin (from the Christian Union).
The ruling Labor Party in Malta, the smallest country in the European Union, suffered major losses in the European elections, while Roberta Mitsola, the current president of the European Parliament, won a seat, according to preliminary partial results. Despite this, Prime Minister Robert Abela spoke in the capital, Valletta, yesterday of a “strong victory.”
The Mediterranean island, with a population of 500,000, has 6 seats in the European Parliament.
About two and a half years after the start of the Ukrainian crisis, a total of more than 360 million Europeans were invited to cast their votes in order to choose 720 representatives in the European Parliament.
The elections began last Thursday in the Netherlands, confirming estimates of the rise of the “Party for Freedom” led by right-winger Geert Wilders, even though it is in second place after the coalition of social democrats and environmentalists. The German President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is seeking a second term of 5 years, cast her vote yesterday, in the city of Burgdorf in the state of Lower Saxony, accompanied by her husband. For his part, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said after casting his vote in Budapest, “I hope that these elections will produce a majority in favor of peace.”
In Denmark, the elections took place the day after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was attacked, which came after the attempted assassination of populist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico last month.
The first task before the European representatives after electing their president or president will be to vote to choose a president for the European Commission.
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