Výsledky volieb do Európskeho parlamentu v roku 2009

2009-06-08 06:38:48  

  ·EPP-ED, the center-right political group will win between 263 and 273 seats. ·PSE, the major center-left force, will take only between 155 and 165 seats. ·Voters from 19 of the 27 European Union (EU) nations cast ballots on Sunday.

    BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) --

Center-left parties seem to turn out to be the biggest losers in the European Parliament elections, which wrapped up on Sunday across the continent, while the center-right group will return as the biggest bloc.

    The European People's Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED), the center-right political group, will win between 263 and 273 seats in the new chamber, provisional results released by the European Parliament show.

    The EPP-ED won 282 seats in the 785-seat house in 2004. The number of seats in the 2009 assembly is reduced to 736.

    The Socialist Group in the European Parliament (PSE), the major center-left force, will take only between 155 and 165 seats, compared to 203 seats in 2004.

    The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) will remain in the third place with 78 to 84 seats. The group won 86 seats in the 2004 elections.

    The right-wing Union for Europe of the Nations is winning handsomely with 33 to 37 seats in the new parliament, probably due to the record low voter turnout of only 43 percent. The group won only 23 seats in the 2004 elections.

    The left-wing European United Left -- Nordic Green Left is expected to remain stable while the Greens bloc will gain.

    The Independence/Democracy Group, a bloc of euroskeptic and eurorealist political parties, is suffering big losses. The group will get only 15 to 19 seats, compared to 36 in 2004.

    Voters from 19 of the 27 European Union (EU) nations -- including France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- cast ballots on Sunday, the final day of the elections. British and Dutch voters were the first to go to the polls on Thursday. 

Record low voter turnout in European Parliament elections

2009-06-08 06:13:07  

    BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) --

Voter turnout in European Parliament elections, which wrapped up on Sunday across the European Union (EU), may hit a record low, first election results show.

    Voter turnout in the 2009 elections is 43.39 percent, according to provisional results released by the European Parliament on Sunday night. The 2009 rate is lower than the 45.47 percent in 2004, which was also a record low at the time.

    The new record low turnout in 2009 is against the backdrop that the new assembly will have more powers if the Lisbon Treaty is finally approved by Irish voters in autumn in a second referendum. The Lisbon Treaty gives the European Parliament legislative powers in more policy areas, including security and justice.

    The new European Parliament will have 736 seats, lower than the785 seats in the previous house.     

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Conservatives lead European parliament vote in Germany

2009-06-08 05:47:10  

    BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) --

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives took a clear lead in Sunday's European parliament election over its main competitor Social Democrats (SPD), according to the early projections of local media.

    Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and its Bavarian allies got 38.4 percent of votes, ARD public television reported. Although it was much lower compared with the 44.5 percent at the last European parliament election in 2004, it still led its main competitor Social Democrats (SPD) quite a lot, which only got 21.1 percent of votes, a historic low for the center-left party.

    "This is disappointing, without question," Franz Mntefering, SPD chairman, quoted as saying in local media. Vice Chancellor of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD's chancellor candidate, also thought the result was "disappointing" but predicted that as the turnout was low, there would be a "different outcome" for his party when Germany goes to the polls in general election in September.

    Although CDU suffered losses compared with last European parliament election, the leading percentage still made them happy. "Tonight we are 17 points ahead of the SPD. The CDU alone is stronger than the SPD and the Greens combined," CDU General Secretary Ronald Pofalla said in Berlin.

    The biggest winner of Sunday's election was the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), one of Merkel's preferred coalition partners after general election. They have got 10.6 percent of the votes, much higher than the 6.1 percent they got in the last election.

    The Greens were the third strongest party with 11.6 percent of the votes, while the hard-line socialist party The Left won 7.5 percent of the votes.

    In total, there were 32 parties in Germany joining in the struggling for votes on Sunday, while the turnout in Germany was still down slightly at 42.5 percent from the last vote in 2004, similar with the previous expectations of local media.

    Germany, the largest owner of the seats in European Parliament, with 99 seats out of a total of 736, have more than 64 million eligible voters in Sunday's election. Among them are 2.1 million people from other EU countries and 4.6 million first-time voters.

    Elections for European Parliament take place in all the EU's 27member states every five year. This year the Netherlands and Britain were the first to vote on Thursday followed by Ireland, the Czech Republic on Friday. On Sunday, the election started in 18 other EU countries including Germany. About 375 million Europeans across the EU are eligible to vote in the election. 

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Sweden's main opposition Social Democrats top European Parliament elections

2009-06-08 09:14:08  

    STOCKHOLM, June 7 (Xinhua) --

Sweden's main opposition Social Democrats retained its position as the biggest winner in Sunday's European Parliament elections, according to preliminary results.

    The party garnered 24.5 percent of votes, the same as the previous elections, the Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.

    It was followed by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderate Party, which got 18.8 percent of votes.

    The other two big winners are the Green Party and the Liberal Party. They won 10.9 percent and 13.6 percent of votes, higher than the 6.0 percent and 9.9 percent they gained in the 2004 European elections. Their seats in the European Parliament will rise to two and three from one and two.

    Fielding candidates for the first time, the Pirate Party, which supports shortening the duration of copyright protection and allowing noncommercial sharing of files on the Internet, won 7.1 percent of votes and will occupy one of the 18 Swedish seats in the European Parliament.

    The party has been rather popular among the 18-30 age group, and won most of the support from this group in the elections.

    The big loser was the June List, a eurosceptic party. The votes it grabbed dropped some 10 percentage points to 3.6 percent, which means it will lose all of its seats in the European Parliament.

    The opposition Left Party also saw its support dwindling as its share of the votes has halved to only 5.6 percent.

    Sweden will take over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union from July 1.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

Associated Press

June 8, 2009

Voters across Europe went to the polls last week, in what is thought to be the biggest transnational vote in history. Votes are continuing to be tallied across the continent. Early results show a continent-wide shift to the right, with some exceptions.

See the breakdown of seats in the Parliament and country-by-country results.

Austria: The main rightist People's Party made big gains, while the ruling Social Democrats dropped nearly 10% to garner 23.8% of the vote.

Belgium: The conservative Christian Democrats won, reinforcing the party's victory in a parallel vote for assemblies of the country's Dutch and French-speaking regions.

Bulgaria: The governing Socialists faced defeat as the country's biggest right-wing opposition party won most of the votes.

Cyprus: The opposition conservatives narrowly defeated the governing communist-rooted party. Official results gave the Disy party 35.65% of the vote, 0.75% more than Akel, the party of President Dimitris Christofias.

Czech Republic: The center-right Civic Democrats of former Premier Mirek Topolanek were set for a close victory. With about 40% of the vote counted, Mr. Topolanek's party was leading the field with 29%, ahead of the center-left Social Democrats with 24%, with about 40% of the vote counted.

Denmark: An exit poll said the Danish People's Party, a government ally, will grab one seat in the European assembly. Another EU-skeptical group, the June Movement, will lose its single seat according to the poll, while other parties would maintain their seats.

Estonia: The Centre Party gained two seats, while the Social Democratic Party lost its three.

Finland: The center-right government coalition partners, the Conservatives and the Centre Party, and the main opposition Social Democrats, lost support in the election for Finland's 13 seats.

France: President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservatives trounced the Socialists, picking up almost 28% of the vote to the Socialists' 16.48%. The Green Party vaulted to a surprisingly strong third place finish with 16.28%, according to official results. Turnout, at 41%, was the lowest ever in a European election in France.

Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won a lackluster victory, with Ms. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and a regional sister party winning 37.8% of the vote. Their center-left rivals, the Social Democrats, suffered a heavy defeat only months before a national election, winning 20.8% of the vote -- their worst showing since World War II in any nationwide election. The result was enough to boost Ms. Merkel's hopes of ending the left-right "grand coalition" that has led Germany since 2005.

Greece: The governing conservatives suffered a defeat in the wake of corruption scandals and with a sharply slowing economy. The main opposition Socialists -- winning their first election battle in nine years -- renewed calls for early general elections.

Hungary: The far-right Jobbik party won three of 22 seats. The National Election Office said the main center-right opposition party, Fidesz, won 14 seats, while the governing Socialist Party gained four seats and the Hungarian Democratic Forum won one.

Italy: A nearly complete count showed the conservative party of scandal-plagued Premier Silvio Berlusconi lost support, while his anti-immigrant ally made gains in European Parliament voting. With some 97% of vote counted, Mr. Berlusconi's Freedom Party had 34.9%, down from 37.4% in the last European vote in 2004.

Ireland: Exit polls suggested government party Fianna Fail is likely to be pushed into second place. Ahead of formal results in all districts, a poll for RTE television projected that Fianna Fail would trail its rival Fine Gael by 23% to 30%.

Latvia: Voters looked to an ethnic Russian party to rescue the Baltic state from its economic crisis. Nearly complete results showed the center-left Harmony Party had won two of Latvia's eight seats in the next European Parliament and over one-third of the vote in municipal election in Riga. The result signaled a significant shift in voter sentiment in a country that expects to see its economy contract by 18% this year. Latvia's ethnic Russian parties have fared poorly since the country gained independence in 1991. Many center-right parties took a drubbing in Saturday's double ballot.

Lithuania: Exit polls said the conservative Homeland Union-Christian Democrats are leading the vote, with around 25%, followed by the Social Democratic Party, which had 19%.

Luxembourg: Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker's Christian Democrats looked set to take three seats, followed by the Socialists and Liberals, both of which would take one seat.

Malta: The opposition Labor Party scored a resounding victory, taking 57% of the vote.

Netherlands: Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party took 17% of the vote, or four of 25 seats. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrats held onto five seats, while the center-left Labor party took three.

Poland: An exit poll showed Prime Minister Donald Tusk's probusiness Civic Platform party had 45.3% of the vote and the nationalist and conservative opposition Law and Justice party was second with 29.5% -- a shift to the center-right by voters.

Portugal: The opposition center-right PPD was predicted to take 10 seats, while Prime Minister Jose Socrates' Socialists were expected to take seven.

Romania: Partial results showed the two parties in the coalition government had won most of the votes in European Parliament elections, with the far right also gaining ground. Results from the election authorities released early Monday give the leftist Social Democracy Party about 30.6% of the vote and the centrist Liberal Democratic Party 29.7%. More than 91% of the vote had been counted. The far-right Greater Romania Party was projected as getting 8.7%. In 2008, it was voted out of the Romanian parliament.

Slovakia: The ruling Social Democrats won with 32% of the vote. Official results give the center-left Social Democrats five seats, ahead of the opposition center-right Christian Democrats, who won two. Three smaller parties took the other six seats.

Slovenia: The center-right opposition won the most votes, dealing a blow to the governing Social Democrats.

Spain: The conservative Popular Party won two more seats than the ruling Socialists in preliminary vote tallies.

Sweden: Exit polls said the new populist Pirate Party would win a seat, while the main opposition Social Democrats took six seats. The conservative Moderate Party, Sweden's leading party in the center-right coalition government, was expected to take three seats.

U.K.: The ruling Labour Party suffered a major defeat, finishing third in the European poll. With nearly all results in on Monday morning, the main opposition Conservative Party won with roughly 29% of the vote. The U.K. Independence Party, which seeks withdrawal from the EU, took second place with about 17%. Labour's share of the vote was around 15%. For the first time, the far-right, anti-immigration British National Party picked up two seats in the European Parliament. Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown's political future is in doubt. Whether he is to be replaced could become clear after a meeting with Labour lawmakers Monday.

—Source: Associated Press