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Right-wing parties gain in EU vote

Paris: Conservative right-wing parties in several leading EU nations emerged victorious in the biggest trans-national election in the world, when 375 million voters from 27 EU countries cast their ballot to elect 376 Euro-deputies.

Centre-right parties in the largest EU member-states such as France, Italy, Spain and Poland registered large gains. Smaller but significant EU countries including Belgium, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Cyprus also opted for the conservatives.

Only 43 per cent of voters cast their ballot, however, underlining the deep disenchantment, indifference, distrust and suspicion most Europeans seem to harbour for the EU. Ever since the direct EU parliamentary election was instituted in 1979, the rate of participation has been decreasing from mandate to mandate. In 2004, voter turnout was 45 per cent; this year it is 2 per cent less.

With the European People’s Party securing 267 seats in the 736-member Strasbourg-based European Parliament, the conservatives retained their hold over the EU’s Parliament. The Socialists secured 159 seats with 81 seats for the Liberal Democrats, who came third in the polls, followed by the Greens with 51 seats.

Social Democrats came in for the worst drubbing of their lives, with the French Socialist Party, for instance, obtaining less than 17 per cent of the vote. In Britain and Spain, where the Left is in power, the verdict was a clear warning to governments led by Gordon Brown in Britain and Jose Luis Roderiguez Zapatero in Spain that a general election defeat was around the corner and almost assured.

High unemployment across Europe, fears for jobs, pensions and social security have added to anxiety and increased voter dissatisfaction with mainstream parties, making them sceptical of the EU’s power to help spur economic recovery. The conservatives strengthened their position thanks to severe anti-immigration measures adopted by many right-wing governments in power today, including France, Italy and Germany. In several countries such as Austria, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark or the Czech Republic extreme-right fringe parties, including some openly racist and anti-EU formations, have made gains. In Austria, the extreme right-wing Freedom Party campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, with posters calling for “The Occident in Christian hands.” In The Netherlands, exit polls predicted Geert Wilders’ anti-Islamic party would win more than 15 per cent of the country’s votes, bruising a ruling alliance of Conservatives and Socialists.

In Germany, the conservatives of German Chancellor Angela Merkel were returned to power while her centre-left rivals faced a crushing defeat less than four months before a national vote.

“The centre-left lost because it had no project, no real programme. Centre-left parties are adrift, riven by infighting and unable to come up with viable or attractive solutions at a time of great financial stress.

Also, they failed to recognise that the future of the planet has become a major issue of concern for many left-wing voters, hence the good showing of the ecologists in France which has scored extremely well. It is interesting to note that the Ecologists campaigned and won on European issues and ironically, the two main leaders of the ecologists are not French — Daniel Cohn-Bendit is German and anti-corruption judge Eva Joly is of Scandinavian origin,” French constitutional expert and commentator Olivier Duhamel told The Hindu.

Portugal and Greece were the two exceptions where leftist parties made gains.

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