Date published: 2009/06/08
The BBC says:
Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left.
Far-right and anti-immigrant 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.
Jose Manuel Barroso, who seems set for a second term as European Commission president following the centre-right success, thanked voters and assured them their voices would be heard.
Barroso cares about as much about what the voters think as David Cameron does. It seems to be the cheap slogan of the day for the ruling elite to allegedly care about what the peasants think. The rise of the extremists on both the left and the right, and the low turnout, are not good signs for the EU.
And the BBC also says:
The Greens say they are "disappointed" not to have won more seats in the European elections despite seeing some "spectacular" increases in their vote.
With results from Northern Ireland and one area of Scotland due, the party has won 8.7% of the vote, up from 6.2% in 2004, and retained its two seats.
...
Its leader Caroline Lucas said the outcome boded well for the future.However, she said the voting system had not properly rewarded her party for the jump in support it had seen.
Another election and another gripe from the Greens, one of the extremist parties on the left, that they were not "properly rewarded". Although they allegedly support PR, it seems they don't support any PR system which doesn't give them as many seats as they think they deserve. The EU parliamentary elections in the UK are based on 12 regions, and a party has to get at least 10% in a region to get a seat. That is fair enough. Currently the Greens, a party by and for the academic middle class, have just gotten above that threshold in the two richest, and so most academic middle class, parts of England, i.e. London and the South East. Some day they may be able to bluster their way further afield, like UKIP, another extremist party, seems to have managed.
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