Anti European Union parties on both the right and left appeared to be making significant gains in Europe’s parliamentary elections, according to Sunday evening exit polls, a sign of the increasing wave of discontent being expressed against decision making in Brussels and continued high unemployment.
Though the two largest political groups in the parliament will be made up of pro-European parties on the centre left and right, anti-EU parties in the UK, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Greece all made gains, according to exit polls.
In Germany, exit polls showed the Christian Democrats, which is led by Angela Merkel, won the election with 36% of the national vote and 35 seats in the parliament. The Social Democratic Party came in second place with 27.2% of the vote. The anti-European Alternative fur Deutschland party in Germany could enter the party with 6.5% of the vote, granting them their first ever seat in the European Parliament.
In France, exit polls showed that the far right Front National, whose views on immigration policy and further European integration have been cause for much controversy, brought home a victory with 24.4% of the total vote. The centre UMP party came in second place with 21% while the ruling Socialist Party attained just 14.2% of the vote.
UMP president Jean-Francois Cope said the results should be seen as an expression of disappointment against the government of Francois Hollande, who has so far failed to tackle issues such as high unemployment and turn round a stagnant economy.
“These elections show a huge anger against Francois Hollande’s policy,” he told French media. The Socialist Party spokesman Olivier Faure said “The whole left has to reconsider itself.”
Exit polls from the UK, where the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party are expected to win, were not immediately available.
In Greece, where unemployment levels are still at 27%, the far-left Syriza party gained 28% of the vote, the most out of any other party. Greece’s New Democracy party, led by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, came in second place with between 23 and 25% of the vote.
Other countries that saw positive results for anti-EU parties included Belgium and Denmark where the Danish People’s Party received around 23% of the vote and 3 seats, according to exit polls.
Citizens across Europe have increasingly become sceptical of the decision making process in Brussels with institutions such as the Troika having taken key decisions to put countries such as Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal and Spain under strict programmes of austerity in return for financial support.
In Portugal, the Socialist Party received the largest share of results with between 30% and 34% of the vote. The centre-right alliance gained between 25 and 29% of the vote.
Ska Keller, the lead candidate for the Greens, said prior to preliminary votes coming out that the rise of populist parties in France and UK was a worrying development.
“In some countries like the Netherlands the right wing populists have been losing ground that is a very encouraging sign. I also think that is has shown it’s important not to over-estimate, not to over talk the right wing populists either. And in other countries the signs are more worrying like in France or the UK,” she said.