Brussels, 23/05/2014 (Agence Europe) -Dutch populist Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party PVV, may have suffered an electoral setback at the European elections on Thursday 22 May. The first exit polls carried out at the polling stations, but which are still to be officially confirmed on Sunday 25 May, credit the PVV with 12.2% of the votes. This result, which falls short of the 17% he achieved in 2009, would, if confirmed, lose the extreme right-wing anti-EU, anti-euro and anti-Islamic group a seat at the European Parliament.
According to the polls, the PVV will finish behind the Centre party (15.6%), the Christian Democrats (15.2%) and the VVD party (12.3%) of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. In a press release, Guy Verhofstadt, candidate of the ALDE group, to which the D66 and VDD delegations also belong, welcomed these initial indications and took the opportunity to stress that nothing had been confirmed yet. “This announced setback for the Dutch populists is an emphatic denial to all those who say that it is all over in advance for this crucial election”. According to AFP, the possible future colleague of France's Marine Le Pen at the EP himself acknowledged that the “exit polls were disappointing”, with several recent surveys having put him at the top of voting intentions.
Wilders attributed this poor performance to the low turnout, which has been estimated that 37%, but pledged that the “PVV will continue the fight in Brussels and, from tomorrow, we will be looking to work with other European parties”.
Breakthrough for UKIP?
In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, the surveys may have been telling the truth about UKIP, the Eurosceptic and Europhobic party of Nigel Farage, which has nine seats in the European Parliament. On 22 May, some Britons also voted in municipal elections and, according to the first results to have filtered through, UKIP has gained considerable ground, according to the news agency Reuters. Indeed, it appears to have taken seats from both the Conservatives and Labour. UKIP won an extra 86 seats in the municipal elections, according to the results confirmed so far from one third of the 4,216 seats up for grabs in the local councils. Labour won 94 seats, whilst the Conservatives lost 101 and the Liberal Democrats 84. Initial forecasts in the European elections, in which the British elect 73 MEPs, will not be announced until Sunday.
On Friday 23 May, it was the turn of the Irish and the Czechs to vote. The Latvians, Maltese and Slovakians voted on 24 May, with all other countries to vote on Sunday 25 May. (SP)