European elections update

This video from Greece says about itself:

25 May 2014

Greece’s radical leftist, anti-bailout Syriza party has won the country’s EU election by a margin of nearly four points over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy party, the official projection showed on Sunday.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Tuesday 27th May 2014

Alexis Tsipras asks president to call an early general election as Syriza beats New Democracy with 26.6% of the EU parliament vote

The left-wing opposition Syriza party captured first place in Greece’s election for the European Parliament yesterday.

The radical-left party, pro-EU but fiercely critical of the austerity policies imposed by Greece’s creditors, claimed an important victory in local and regional elections by winning the Attica region, where almost 30 per cent of all Greek voters are registered.

With about 55 per cent of all votes cast counted, Syriza led New Democracy, the senior party in Greece’s coalition government, by 26.6 per cent to 23 per cent.

It is set to send six deputies to the new European Parliament to New Democracy’s five.

The fascist Golden Dawn party was third with 9.4 per cent, despite the fact that its leader and several MPs are in jail pending trial and several others face indictments for criminal acts ranging from murder to arson and extortion.

The formerly marginal neonazi organisation, which polled less than 0.5 per cent in the previous European election in 2009, will have three deputies in the new European parliament.

The Greek Communist Party will have two MEPs, as will the Olive Tree centre-left list led by the nominally socialist Pasok party, New Democracy’s partner in the coalition government.

Voters also elected two MEPs from centre-left list To Potami, while the right-wing populist Independent Greeks just made it over the 3 per cent threshold to elect one MEP.

“Today’s result has torn apart any pretence to popular support for the government,” said Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, calling for national elections.

Also from the Morning Star:

EU election: Far-right wins big amid wider eurosceptic and anti-austerity victory

Tuesday 27th May 2014

Socialist party Syriza comes first in Greek vote and calls for an early general election

Europe’s electorate delivered millions of new votes to eurosceptic and anti-austerity parties on Sunday.

However, right-wing parties succeeded in hijacking huge numbers of those votes with populist xenophobic policies, sending the Establishment pro-European parties into a flat spin across the European Union.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) scored its first victory in European Parliament elections. FN won around 25 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls, easily beating the centre-right UMP on 20 per cent.

In Denmark, the right-wing Danish People’s Party topped the polls, although its leaders have ruled out an alliance with the National Front.

The governing right-wing Fidesz party in Hungary took nearly 52 per cent of the vote and 12 seats in the European Parliament.

And in Belgium, Flemish separatists secured four of 21 EU parliamentary seats, more than any other party.

But there was better news from Greece, where the anti-austerity Syriza party topped the polls with more than 27 per cent of the vote.

And in Spain the ruling conservative Popular Party and the compromised Socialist Party lost major ground to smaller parties, mainly on the left. The Catalan independence party also performed well.

In the Irish Republic, Sinn Fein’s Lynn Boylan became the first European candidate to be elected on Sunday. Fourteen MEPs will be elected in the republic, although the final results may not be known until later today.

Several extreme-right fascist parties suffered in the polls, losing votes to populist rightwingers.

Hungary’s Jobbik party made no progress, taking 14.7 per cent of the vote, down a fraction from its 2009 total.

Turnout was generally low across the entire European Union with polls routinely below 50 per cent and, in eastern Europe, predicted to be around 20 per cent.

This video from France, about the threat of war in Ukraine and other subjects, with English subtitles, says about itself:

Excerpts from Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s speech to the Left Front’s 500-strong meeting in the town of Alès (Gard department, Languedoc-Rousillon region), during the May 2014 European election campaign.

Sunday’s first-place finish by the neo-fascist National Front (FN) in the European elections in France is a devastating exposure of the bankruptcy of the French political establishment. There is rising anger over the wars and austerity policies of the Socialist Party (PS) government and the European Union (EU): here.

It wasn’t just the far-right but the radical left and new anti-austerity parties that delivered a rejection of the EU agenda in the Euro polls, says TOM GILL: here.

By Paddy McGuffin in Britain, about Britain:

Party executive member Martin Tod says voters won’t back Nick Clegg as Lib Dems suffer calamitous rout in European and local elections

The Liberal Democrats were delivered another hefty kicking by the electorate yesterday amid increasing calls for Nick Clegg’s head.

Already annihilated in the local elections, the shellshocked party was also roundly trounced at the European polls, losing 11 seats, retaining only one MEP.

The appalling results, which will be seen as a damning indictment of the party’s time as junior partners in the Tory-led coalition, raise further questions over the party’s future and in particular that of Mr Clegg.

Party activists, including general election candidates, have called on the Lib Dem leader to step down, in a bid to prevent their vote further haemorrhaging in next year’s Westminster poll.

Greens added to the Liberal Democrats’ humiliating European elections defeat yesterday — pushing them into sixth place across Britain. The Green Party gained a European Parliament seat, taking the party to three, putting them in fourth place behind the Tories: here.

In the aftermath of the local and Euro elections, JOE GILL talks to the Greens and left parties about building a radical alternative: here.

Tory bigwig Daniel Hannan renewed his calls yesterday for his party to form an electoral pact with Ukip. The South East MEP said “it would be very sad” if the two right-wing parties were not able to find some sort of agreement at the general election — at least in marginal seats. But Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps has consistently ruled out any pact: here.

Transport union RMT vowed to keep up its left-wing fight for an EU referendum. Acting general secretary Mick Cash said the left’s fight against Britain’s EU membership is, unlike Ukip’s, pro-public service, pro-worker, anti-austerity and anti-privatisation: here.

Voters across Ireland in last weekend’s European and local elections, as well as by-elections in two parliamentary constituencies, expressed bitter opposition to the ruling Fine Gael-Labour coalition in Dublin and its austerity policies: here.

In Portugal, as elsewhere, support for the ruling party plummeted in last week’s European Union elections where 21 seats were being contested. There was a record low number of voters—just 34 percent. Votes for the two right-wing government coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Peoples Party (CSD-PP) collapsed from 40 percent (1.4 million votes) in 2009 to 27.7 percent (909,000 votes), leading to the loss of three of their 10 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs): here.

The governing Democratic Party (PD) emerged as the winner in the European elections on May 25 in Italy with 40.8 percent of the vote. Beppe Grillo’s populist Five Star Movement came second with 21 percent. Shortly before the election, polls had been predicting a neck-and-neck race between Grillo’s followers and the Democrats for first place: here.

The European elections, May 25; a step towards the implosion of the European Union, by Samir Amin: here.