Hundreds of millions of Europeans vote to elect 720 deputies to the European Parliament, with growing support for the far right.
Today the first results of the european electionsin a vote that threatens to weaken the pro-European majority of the European Parliament.
After four days of voting, the first projections, based on surveys, on the new legislative chamber will be published starting at 8:00 p.m., and again from 11:00 p.m.when the polls close in Italy, the last country to finish the elections.
However, estimates for each country could arrive soonerand this article will be updated as new data arrives.
In countries like Netherlandswhere voting took place on Thursday, exit polls suggest that the Geert Wilders’ PVV to win seven seatsconfirming the shift towards right-wing Eurosceptic parties predicted by previous surveys.
The change was not as radical as some expected, which allowed the alliance of the Greens, Left and Labor, which according to exit polls would obtain eight seats in the European Parliament (compared to one it obtained in 2019), rise with the victory.
With about 373 million voters in the 27 EU Member States -which for the first time include young people aged 16 and 17-, is the largest multi-state democratic exercise in the world.
The results determine what 720 deputies The European Parliament will deliberate on EU legislation over the next five years.
It is celebrated after five turbulent years, dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. virus COVID-19 and the large scale invasion of Ukrainenot to mention the skyrocketing cost of living, which came to dominate voters’ concerns.
Opinion polls suggest that the extreme right will rank first in major countries, including Wilders in the Netherlands and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France.
They also predict a weakening of the pro-European establishment, with voters turning against figures such as the liberal French president Emmanuel Macron and the German Green Party, which is currently part of the coalition government of Olaf Scholz.
The campaign has not been without controversy. MEP Maximilian Krah resigned from his position as leader of the far-right ‘Alternative for Germany’ after a paw measurementin which he appeared to defend the Nazi paramilitary group SS.
Hungary held its first television debate in 18 years for the election, and newcomer Péter Hungarian threatens the grip on power of the increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Pending tasks
One of the first tasks of the MEPs will be to approve the candidate to lead the European Comissionwhose acting president, Ursula von der Leyenhopes to secure a second term.
The electoral dynamics could make that task difficult, since advance polls suggest a weakening of the coalition that supported her by a narrow margin in 2019, when she obtained 383 votes, just seven more than I needed.
No party has a majority in the European Parliament, and Votes are usually decided issue by issue, finding a coalition that gets the majority necessary.
The chamber has always been dominated by its two large groups, the center-right European People’s Party and the center-left Socialists.
Both lost their combined majority in the 2019 election.and have since had to form informal alliances with parties such as the Greens and Liberals, and polls suggest they are unlikely to win it back in 2024.
MEPs will also be able to amend or oppose new legislative proposals, which leaves up in the air the fate of the EU Green Dealan ambitious set of laws to reduce carbon emissions.
ADVERTISINGEach country is assigned a certain number of MEPs based on its population, which ranges from 96 in Germany to six in Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg.
For the first time since the beginning of direct elections in 1979, the count will not include the United Kingdomwhose 73 MEPs will leave the European Parliament after the Brexit in February 2020.
