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Conservatives tighten their grip in EU election

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-08 11:36

BRUSSELS - Conservative parties have decisively beat Socialists in European Union parliamentary elections which ended on Sunday, marred by a new record low turnout.

Europe's left failed to capitalise on widespread concerns over the recession, opening the door for far-right anti-immigrant and eurosceptic parties to seize the moment to gain support for their hardline message.

Members of the European Parliament and media wait for the results of the European Parliament elections inside the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels June 7, 2009. [Agencies]

Socialist parties in power in Britain, Spain and Portugal were punished by their electorates while other left-wing parties in opposition in Germany and France suffered painful losses.

The centre-right European People's Party secured 267 seats, making it the biggest group in the 736-member assembly, ahead of the Socialists on 159 seats, down from 215, according to official estimates.

About 20 members of Italy's left-leaning Democrats were expected to join the Socialist group in parliament.

If confirmed, the results would give the EPP 21 fewer lawmakers than they had in the last parliament, which had 785 seats. The strong showing also comes despite the desertion of the British and Czech conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats came in third with 81 seats followed by the Greens with 51 seats, up from 43, in the parliament - the European Union's only directly elected institution.

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Some 388 million people were eligible to vote in the world's biggest transnational elections which were spread over four days.

Turnout slumped to 43.55 percent, down from 45.4 percent in 2004. The extreme right wing British National Party won its two first ever European Parliament seats, while Dutch anti-Islamic lawmaker Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom came second on Thursday with 17 percent of the vote.

"The turnout compared to 2004 shows that this is not the time for complacency," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said, urging national governments to play a more visible EU role.

"It's a sad evening for social democracy in Europe. We are particularly disappointed, (it is) a bitter evening for us." said the head of the Socialist bloc, German lawmaker Martin Schulz.

As results trickled in from Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ruling Labour party was braced for a drubbing which will add to pressure on his leadership after a week of political turmoil.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives came out on top, trouncing her centre-left rivals in what was seen as a dry run for September's general election.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party romped home with close to 28 percent of the vote, leaving the opposition Socialists trailing with about 16 percent, about the same as the Greens.

Italy's scandal-plagued centre-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held his lead with 35.6 percent of the vote - well below his target of 40 percent.

Spain's opposition conservatives beat the ruling Socialists, with the opposition Popular Party getting 42.23 percent against 38.51 percent for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's party.

The Socialist party of Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates also suffered a surprise defeat by the right-wing Social Democrats.

In Austria, the list of eurosceptic campaigner Hans-Peter Martin made major gains, while the ruling Social Democrats had their worst election debacle ever, official results showed.

Finland's nationalist and eurosceptic True Finns party also saw a strong rise in support, with about 10 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results.

In Ireland, which voted on Friday, the centrist Fianna Fail party led by Prime Minister Brian Cowen suffered a voter backlash, losing out to the opposition Fine Gael.

In contrast to its centre-right European peers, Greece's ruling conservatives trailed the opposition Socialists for their first defeat in five years amid a record-low turnout.

In Bulgaria, accusations of vote-buying including three arrests marred the elections, despite an unprecedented clampdown.

The centre-right victory boosts Barroso's chances of securing a second term at the helm of the EU executive arm when his mandate expires in November.