No party was able to secure a majority in European Parliament, provisional results for the European Union elections showed on Sunday. The centre-right European People’s Party, an alliance of several national parties, won 179 seats, followed by the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats at 150, Al Jazeera reported.
The European Parliament has 751 seats, with a certain number allocated to each country. Voting takes place separately in each member country.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe won 107 seats. The Green Alliance stood fourth, doubling its vote share to 20.7% and increasing its tally of seats to 70, Reuters reported.
The elections also saw gains for far-right parties in individual countries. The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 10.8% of the vote, up from 7.1% in the last elections. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally was on course to win 24 seats, one more than President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche, Reuters reported.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party, which ran on an anti-immigration platform, swept the elections, winning 52% of the vote and 13 of Hungary’s 21 seats.
In Britain, which has 73 European Union seats, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party won 28, BBC reported. The Liberal Democrats performed the best in London, winning 14 seats. The two major British parties, Labour and Conservative, however, saw a steep decline in their performance. The Conservative Party won just three seats, down by 15, and the Labour Party bagged 10 seats, a decline of eight. The results in 64 seats in Britain have been declared so far.
Britain was scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29 but it participation in the European elections became mandatory after it missed the deadline. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday announced her resignation and said she would step down on June 7.
In Italy, the anti-immigration League of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini won 32% of the vote, ABC News reported. “Not only is the League the first party in Italy, but Marine Le Pen is first in France, Nigel Farage is first in Great Britain,” Salvini said. “Therefore, Italy, France and England: the sign of a Europe that is changing, that is fed up.”
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