EU vote turnout at record low
Some ruling parties defeated
A record low of 43.01 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the European Parliament election, according to a first official estimate published by the assembly yesterday.
That compares to a previous low of 45.47 per cent at the last election in 2004. Surveys had suggested the election was marked by widespread voter apathy and a desire by citizens to punish national governments for their handling of the economic slowdown.
In fact voters punished several national governments battling the global economic downturn and domestic crises in a European Parliament election, exit polls showed yesterday.
Although centrist parties are expected to dominate the 736-seat assembly, which shapes many of the European Union's laws, the early exit polls showed the opposition defeating governing parties in Latvia, Greece, Bulgaria, Ireland and Malta.
The polls put the ruling parties in France and Germany ahead of the opposition, but indicated German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives would suffer some losses in what an initial estimate said would be a record low turnout.
Anti-immigrant leader Geert Wilders' Freedom Party was on course to come second in the Netherlands with four of the country's 25 seats, one fewer than the main party in the government.
Opinion polls before the election suggested governments in Britain, Spain and Hungary faced defeat and showed fringe parties - including far-right forces - would benefit if the turnout was low among the 375 million electorate.
Although there are no formal or direct consequences for governing parties defeated in the election, they could face increased pressure for changes of policy or personnel.
Defeats across the board for governing parties and a poor turnout would point to a lack of public confidence in how the EU institutions and EU member states have tackled the economic crisis and open the way for fringe parties to make gains.
"We hope that there will be a stand, that the people will retain their common sense and their sense of balance and we will not see extreme parties making any great gains," former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga told a debate in Brussels.
Nineteen EU member states voted on the fourth and final day of the election to the Parliament, which has the final say in the appointment of top EU leaders and the Union's budget. The eight others had already voted.