Results have been declared in the elections for the European Parliament, a crucial political test for leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Matteo Salvini.
The election to the European Parliament were held between 23 and 26 May 2019 and were the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979.
Nearly 51% of eligible voters across the 28 member states lodged their votes for the next European Parliament. That’s the highest turnout since 1994, when just over 56% of people voted.
As of 2018, a total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million people from 28 member states.
Provisional results show a swing away from the major parties that have traditionally dominated the European Parliament, with the EPP and S&D looking set to lose their long-held majority and the pro-EU Green and liberal parties posting stronger showings than ever before.
The UK’s Brexit Party, formed just six weeks ago, has clinched almost as many votes as the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party combined. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party took home 31.71% of the votes, reflecting growing political dissatisfaction with major parties in the UK.
The Green Party alliance posted its strongest ever performance in European elections, winning 70 seats and taking 9.32% of the vote — a huge increase from 2014 when they took 50 seats.
In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally won with 23.31% of the votes beating French president Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche alliance, which has 22.41%.
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would call a snap election after a drubbing at European and local elections. The opposition conservative party “New Democracy” won 33.27% of the vote, with a lead over the governing Coalition of the Radical Left “Syriza”, currently at 23.85%.
Once again, Belgium put other countries to shame in terms of turnout, with a rate of 89%.
Fewer than one quarter of Slovakians felt the need to vote, but their turnout of 22.74% was still better than in 2014 when only 13% of voters lodged ballots.
Hungary and Poland turned out in greater numbers — both at around 43%, compared to 29% and 24% in 2014.
