Far Right Surges in European Parliament Elections, Early Data Shows
The New York Times
Voters in the European Union were expected to deliver gains to anti-immigrant, nationalist parties, challenging leaders in Germany and France.
Elections in 27 countries for the European Parliament ended on Sunday with early projections giving far-right parties a strong showing, a result that, if confirmed, would amount to a powerful gauge of voter dissatisfaction and a stinging rebuke for the political mainstream.
The balloting indicated that the prevailing winds had grown decidedly chill for Europe’s political establishment. The results are likely to make it harder for the European Parliament to form majorities to pass laws, and would render negotiations over divisive issues even tougher. More broadly, they underscored that the momentum of the far-right forces that have been expanding their challenge to centrists over the past decade had yet to crest.
The projected outcome did not bode well for Europe’s centrist leaders and their parties, including in France and Germany, the continent’s biggest powers that are considered the engine of Europe’s experiment in pooling national sovereignty.
The results were especially crushing for President Emmanuel Macron of France, who soon afterward announced on national television that he would dissolve the National Assembly and call for new legislative elections.
Mr. Macron’s Renaissance party was poised to finish with about half the support of the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen, which was on track to secure more than 30 percent of the vote, according to projections based on preliminary vote counts.
