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Far right makes gains in European elections
Courtesy of ICRT, Europa
Far-right parties made major gains in European Union parliamentary elections, dealing stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls on Sunday to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also endured a painful night where his Social Democrats scored their worst result ever, at the hands of mainstream conservatives and hard right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saw her position strengthened by her arch-conservative Brothers of Italy group winning the most votes. Nevertheless, centrist parties maintained an overall majority in parliament.
Preliminary results published on Europa, the EU’s official website showed the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) to become the biggest political group in the new legislature with 186 seats, while the left of centre Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) had won 135 seats and Renew Europe had won 79. The next largest group was the centre-right group of European Conservatives and Reformists Group (which includes Brothers of Italy), which won 73 seats while the far-right group, Identity and Democracy Group (which includes France’s National Rally) won 58. The Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance also lost support, falling to 53 seats in total.
