How the countries voted

2009-06-08 13:52

Paris - Punishing incumbents, promoting extremists or pushing local issues, this is how the 27 European Union member states voted in elections to the bloc's parliament:

Austria:

A eurosceptic campaigner made major gains while the ruling Social Democrats endured their worst-ever election debacle.

Belgium:

Right-wing parties pushing for greater autonomy in Flanders saw a sharp spike in support in Belgian regional elections which overshadowed the parallel EU vote, with negotiations over state reform topping the local agenda.

Britain:

British far-right party BNP won its first two EU parliament seats as Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party slipped to third place, early results leaving them at 15%, well behind the opposition conservatives who polled 29% and even beaten by the eurosceptic UK Independence Party on 17%.

Bulgaria:

The centre-right GERB opposition party came out ahead of the ruling socialists of premier Sergey Stanishev, according to exit polls.

Cyprus:

Cyprus' opposition conservative party secured more votes than President Demetris Christofias's Communists, but lost one of its three seats.

Czech Republic:

Turnout in the Czech Republic - EU presidency holder until the end of the month - fell to about 28%, preliminary data showed. Despite the stayaway voters, Czech eurosceptics, backed by outspoken President Vaclav Klaus, failed to win a seat.

Denmark:

Danish turnout neared 60% boosted by a royal succession referendum that introduced gender equality. Counting continues in Greenland and the Faroe Isles, but the opposition Social Democrats came out on top despite fewer votes.

Estonia:

The largest opposition party, the Centre Party, led the popular vote and won two seats, with Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's Reform Party on one.

Finland:

The nationalist and eurosceptic True Finns party took a first European parliament seat and a priest barred from the Finnish Orthodox Church for standing also got in as ruling parties suffered losses.

France:

President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party romped home with close to 28% of the vote, leaving the opposition Socialists trailing on 16% - down from 29% in 2004 - in a vote marked by a record low turnout.

Germany:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives trounced their main centre-left rivals despite a falling share of the vote in what was seen as a dry run for September's general election.

Greece:

Greece's ruling conservatives slumped to their first defeat in five years, with the opposition Socialists narrowly beating the scandal-plagued New Democracy party's 36%.

Hungary:

The centre-right opposition Fidesz party carried 56.37% of the vote, but the far-right Jobbik party left its mark in this. The ruling Socialists saw their vote halved and five seats lost.

Ireland:

Prime Minister Brian Cowen's centrist Fianna Fail party took a battering in parallel local elections ahead of a vote of no-confidence next week. The main centrist opposition Fine Gael came out top in these polls, awaiting EU results.

Italy:

Shaking off scandal, divorce action and a probe into misuse of state resources, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right party beat the left with 35.6% of the vote. At 65%, turnout was the EU's highest.

Latvia:

The 14-month-old right-wing Civic Union party took 24.32%, with the Harmony Centre party, which draws its support from Latvia's large Russian-speaking population, second on 19.53%.

Lithuania:

The conservative party of Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius took 26.53%, based on near-total results - but on a turnout of just 20.57%.

Luxembourg:

Exit polls showed Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker's Social-Christian CSV party easily won legislative elections that saw his Socialist partners in the ruling coalition lose votes. Luexmbourg's EU vote was held simultaneously.

Malta:

The Labour Party (PES) scored a resounding success, according to predictions by both major parties. Labour said it won 55% of the vote against 40% for the Nationalist Party, which gave Labour 57%.

Netherlands:

Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) was the big winner, taking 17% of the vote and four of 25 Dutch seats in its first European campaign, according to controversial preliminary results.

Poland:

The ruling liberal Civic Platform scored 40.25%, according to a partial results. The opposition right-wing Law and Justice party run by ex-premier Jaroslaw Kaczynski, President Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, took 28.6%.

Portugal:

Prime Minister Jose Socrates's Socialists took a battering as voters deserted to the far-left and the greens, near-complete results from the interior ministry showed.

Romania:

Exit polls said the far-right would return to the chamber with the left-wing social democrats and right-wing liberal democrats that form Romania's governing coalition neck-and-neck.

Slovakia:

The ruling left-wing Smer party took 32.01% of the vote, but an ultra-nationalist party picked up a seat amid one of the lowest turnouts in Europe of just 19.64%.

Slovenia:

The opposition centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party defeated the ruling centre-left Social Democrats.

Spain:

Spain's opposition conservatives beat Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's ruling Socialists in elections seen as a stiff test for the government amid the worst recession in 15 years and soaring unemployment.

Sweden:

The Pirate Party that wants to legalise Internet filesharing and beef up privacy on the web won a seat in the European Parliament for the first time.

- SAPA