In Election News
The BBC covers the results of elections in Europe and the Middle East.
European Parliament elections: Voters steer Europe to the right
Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left.
Far-right and anti-immigration parties also made gains, as turnout figures plunged to 43% – the lowest since direct elections began 30 years ago.
The UK Labour Party, Germany’s Social Democrats and France’s Socialist Party were heading for historic defeats.
The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) looks set to continue to hold power in the parliament.
On the heels of the terrible showing in the local elections in the UK: Labour slumps to historic defeat
Labour has suffered its worst post-war election result after it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats at Brussels.
Labour’s share of the vote at the European elections was just 15.3% – worse than party bosses had feared.
The Tories won with 28.6%, beating Labour in Wales but failing to increase their total share significantly.
The results have sent shockwaves through UK politics and led to renewed calls for Gordon Brown to quit as PM.
And, finally to the Middle East where the FPM and Aoun lose in Lebanon
The crucial electoral showdown had been between Christian rivals, who although they make up only one-third of the population are constitutionally guaranteed an equal half share of parliamentary seats.
The influential Christian Maronite community was split between established Western-orientated factions and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of former army chief Michel Aoun, which joined the pro-Syria faction in 2006.
As predicted, Hezbollah and its smaller Shia ally Amal swept the vote in Lebanon’s mainly Shia areas, but the FPM lost in the key districts of Zahleh and Beirut First.
I realize that everyone is telling you that Hezbollah lost in Lebanon, but that is not true. Hezbollah won all of the seats it was allowed to contest – it was the Christian FPM that lost. Shi’ia are not allowed to be President or Prime Minister of Lebanon, even though they are now the largest ethnic group in the country.
2 comments
It was certainly a grim night for this Labour Party member. I do despise the idiots who cast protest votes which saw the election of two BNP scumbags.
jams O\’Donnell´s last blog post..WW – Ivy leaf toadflax
That was happening all over Europe, the far right really made gains in the Euro parliament. if you are a liberal and want to protest, what’s wrong with the Greens, or someone at least on your side of the center?
The immigration thing really gets me as we all originally came from Africa and then spread out. The Basques and Albanians are probably the oldest Euros, but they didn’t get consulted when the other groups started wandering in from Asia.
Hearing Sarkozy complain about immigrants is pretty rich – the premier of Quebec is more French than than Sarkozy will every be.