EU Elections: Far Right Makes Gains in Germany, France

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...What you need to know

Exit polls in Germany, France and Austria suggest far-right parties are on track for significant gains.

Some 373 million citizens from 27 EU countries are eligible to vote.

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden are holding elections on Sunday.

The European Parliament comprises 720 members (MEPs) elected every five years.

In Finland, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's conservative National Coalition Party is projected to win 24.4% of the vote, while the Left Alliance is expected to finish second on 17.4%, according to preliminary results.

The Left Alliance increased its share of the vote by 10.5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU elections " the biggest increase of any party.

The Social Democrats were in third place and the Center Party was fourth. The right-wing populist Finns Party was on track to finish in sixth place behind the Greens. ...

Updated coverage of election results at the site.

This is getting interesting...

Far-right advances in EU election, France calls snap national vote
www.reuters.com

... Gains by the far-right in voting for the European Parliament on Sunday prompted a bruised French President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap national election and added uncertainty to Europe's future political direction.

While the centre, liberal and Socialist parties were set to retain a majority in the 720-seat parliament, the vote dealt a domestic blow to the leaders of both France and Germany, raising questions about how the European Union's major powers can drive policy in the bloc.

Making a risky gamble to try to reestablish his authority, Macron called a parliamentary election, with the first round on June 30.
Like Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also endured a painful night where his Social Democrats scored their worst result ever, suffering at the hands of the mainstream conservatives and hard right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saw her position strengthened by her arch-conservative Brothers of Italy group winning the most votes, exit polls showed. ...

Another view...

France's Macron calls snap election in huge gamble after EU polls debacle
www.france24.com

... French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling early legislative elections, setting off a political earthquake after his party suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of the far right in elections for the European Parliament. ...