Europe shifts to the right: Centre-right parties sweep to power in European Parliament as Socialists take pounding

EU politics has shifted to the right. Anti-Islamization sentiment no doubt played an important role in this rightward shift. And it was a long time coming. As the left stopped listening - and began dictating its politically correct agenda - despite the reality - they forgot how they came to power - the vote. Those parties that ignored immigration - from Islamic nations - who held to multicultural ideas - which allowed these immigrants to live parallel lives - and then further tried to assist - with Muslim requests - to place Islamic restrictions on the rest of society - from freedom of speech and expression - to art and theatre - lost - big.

This is not the Europe of the 1940's - but it has to be the Europe that we choose - not one foisted upon us - people in Europe feel - that they are being asked to more than compromise - they are being asked to Islamize - with respect to Muslims deepest beliefs - that any country they belong to should become - one day an Islamic nation - we are rejecting this - and all those on the Left who mindlessly support our eventual subjugation under it - where are the Coptics in Egypt, the Christians in Syria - the Sikhs and Buddhist and Hindus in Pakistan - the Zoroastrians in Iran. Thanks but no thanks to Muslim rule - in Europe.



Dutch Right-wing politician Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party hands over his passport for ID as he prepares to cast his vote.

"In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party took 17 per cent of the country's votes, taking four of 25 seats."

Right-leaning parties hailed European Parliament victories as a vote against stimulus spending and corporate bailouts, pledging to forge ahead with conservative approaches to the economic crisis.

Socialists said they would rethink their policies in the wake of heavy defeats.

A record low voter turnout - 43.4 per cent - in voting that ended last night pointed to enduring voter apathy about the European Union.

It was a discouraging sign for EU officials hoping Irish voters will approve stronger powers for the union in an autumn referendum.

Ireland is the only one of the 27 EU nations that must still ratify the reforms.


France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy cast their votes in Paris

Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla step into the polling booths to cast their votes
The European Union said centre-right parties were expected to take the most seats - 267 - in the 736-member parliament.

Centre-left parties were headed for 159 seats. The remainder were expected to go to smaller groupings.

Right-leaning governments were ahead of the opposition in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, while conservative opposition parties were leading in Britain and Spain.

'You would have expected a protest vote against those governments and for the Socialists to do well. But it didn't,' said Jackie Davis, an analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think tank.

Greece was a notable exception, where the governing conservatives were headed for defeat in the wake of corruption scandals and economic woes.

'Where people did feel a centre-right government had let them down ... they turned elsewhere,' Davis said.

Germans handed a lacklustre victory to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and a historic defeat to their center-left rivals in the European Parliament vote months before a national election.


France's Justice Minister Rachida Dati was voted in on the Right-wing ruling UMP party's list



Graffiti on an advertising hoarding outside the European Parliament promoting the elections

The Social Democrats got an unexpectedly dismal 20.8 per cent - the party's worst showing since World War II in any nationwide election.

Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and a regional sister party won 37.8 per cent, down from 44.5 per cent five years ago.

But the outcome was enough to boost Merkel's hopes of ending the tense left-right 'grand coalition' that has led the European Union's most populous nation since 2005, and replacing it with a center-right government.

'We are the force that is acting level-headedly and correctly in this financial and economic crisis,' said Volker Kauder, the leader of Merkel's party in the German parliament.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing conservatives trounced the Socialists, while an ecology-minded party vaulted to a surprisingly strong third place, according to official results.

The Socialists, who dominated the last vote in 2004, suffered a stinging defeat, barely clinging to the No. 2 spot.


German Chancellor Angela Merkel casts her vote in a Berlin polling station


Supporters of conservative Christian Democratic Union party react after first exit polls at the party headquarters in Berlin

'Tonight is a very difficult evening for Socialists in many nations in Europe,' said Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialists in the European Parliament. '(We will) continue to fight for social democracy in Europe.'

Far-right groups and other fringe parties gained in record low turnout estimated at 43.5 per cent of 375 million eligible, reflecting widespread disenchantment with the EU legislature.

In Britain, the British National Party won seats in Yorkshire and the north-west.

Near-final results showed Austria's main rightist party gaining strongly while the ruling Social Democrats lost substantial ground. But the big winner was the rightist Freedom Party, which more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13.1 per cent of the vote. It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party took 17 per cent of the country's votes, taking four of 25 seats.

The Hungarian far-right Jobbik party won three of 22 seats, with the main centre-right opposition party, Fidesz, capturing 14 seats and the governing Socialists only four.

Jobbik describes itself as Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration and wants police to crack down on petty crimes committed by Gypsies. Critics say the party is racist and anti-Semitic.

Fringe groups could use the EU parliament as a platform for their extreme views but were not expected to affect the assembly's increasingly influential lawmaking on issues ranging from climate change to cell-phone roaming charges.


The top candidate of the Right Wing Austrian freedom party Andreas Moelzer gestures


Voters in traditional Bavarian costumes leave a ballot booth at a polling station in Brunnthal, southern Germany.

A man fills out his very long ballot pape during the elections in Berlin

The EU parliament has evolved over five decades from a consultative legislature to one with the power to vote on or amend two-thirds of all EU laws.

MEPs get five-year terms and residents vote for lawmakers from their own countries.

Many Socialists ran campaigns that slammed centre-right leaders for failing to rein in financial markets and spend enough to stimulate faltering economies.

'People don't want a return to socialism and that's why the majority here will be a center-right majority,' said Graham Watson, leader of the EU's centre-right Liberal Democrat grouping.

In Spain, the conservative Popular Party won two more seats than the ruling Socialists - 23 to 21 seats - with over 88 percent of the vote counted.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People's Party held a two-digit lead over his main center-left rival in the most recent polling despite a deep recession and a scandal over allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a young model. Italian results were being released Monday.

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was facing a showdown with rebel lawmakers on Monday after the party's expected dismal results in the European parliament and local elections were announced.


A counting official sorts voting papers during the European election count at the Town Hall in Manchester



A Catholic nun casts her ballot at a polling station in Madrid..


..while a fellow nun works at an electoral desk examining papers at a polling station in the Spanish region of Armentia

Brown has been struggling with the economic crisis and a scandal over lawmakers' expenses. The opposition Conservatives are expected to win the next national election, which must be called by June 2010.

An exit poll showed Irish ruling party Fianna Fail, which supports EU plans to strengthen its authority, trailing its rival Fine Gael by 23 percent to 30 percent.

The outcome of many Irish races was unclear early today. The count was halted for an hour Sunday night in Ireland's North West EU constituency after candidate Declan Ganley, founder of anti-treaty party Libertas, raised procedural questions about the opening of ballot boxes.

An exit poll in Poland showed Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-business Civic Platform party with 45.3 per cent and the nationalist and conservative opposition Law and Justice party second with 29.5 per cent - a shift to the centre-right for Poland at the European parliament.

The Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union garnered 12 per cent.

In Sweden, the Pirate Party, which advocates shortening the duration of copyright protection and allowing noncommercial file-sharing, looked set to take its first seat with 7.4 per cent of the vote.

Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and five other EU nations cast ballots over the last three days, while the rest of the 27-nation bloc voted Sunday.

Daily Mail