Voters punish European leaders
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|  VIDEO |
 Voters use the EU elections to register protests against national policies.
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LONDON, England -- Voters have punished incumbent politicians across Europe, many turning to fringe parties and Euro-skeptic candidates, in what one official said was "wake-up call" to governments.
Others said apathy and anger shown in the first European Union parliamentary elections since expansion meant more has to be done to "sell" the bloc to its citizens.
"We need to show that Europe works," said Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
He called the results a "wake-up call" for governments, The Associated Press reported.
While the four-day European Parliament vote achieved a turnout of just over 45 percent of the 350 million voters, it did give opposition parties victory after victory.
The election for the European Parliament was the first since the EU expanded from 15 to 25 countries in May.
However, only 45.3 percent of the eligible voters cast a ballot. And the turnout was even worse in the 10 new EU countries, where just 28 percent of the voters turned out.
With no overarching European issues, voters in many of the 25 EU countries used the election to register dissatisfaction against ruling parties over domestic issues.
Among the countries where opposition parties made gains were France, Germany, Italy, Britain, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
Also making gains were so-called "Euroskeptic" parties, particularly in Britain, where the United Kingdom Independence Party -- which advocates Britain leaving the EU -- was set to come in third place. (Full story)
Anti-EU parties also did well in Sweden, and two of the new members states -- Poland and the Czech Republic.
In Ireland, the EU elections were combined with a referendum on citizenship. Almost 80 percent of voters supported the government's plans to crack down on immigrants it says exploit the law to get into the EU. (Full story)
Across the board, the bloc of center-right parties will hold the most seats in the next parliament.
The latest estimates give them 269 seats in the 732-member parliament.
The center-left group -- which includes lawmakers from the UK's Labour Party and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats -- are expected to finish second with an expected 189 to 209 seats.
The war in Iraq, which divided European governments into two camps, appears to have had a mixed impact on the results.
Ruling parties in some countries that supported the war, including Britain and Italy, saw their support fall, and the Socialists in Spain, who won March's general election on an anti-war platform, attracted the most votes there.
In Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair's party slumped to third place in local elections last week, prompting fresh speculation in the media about his political future.
However, the rise of the UK Independence Party appeared to be dividing the anti-Blair vote by drawing votes away from the Conservatives, who have been suffered internal divisions in recent years over their position on Britain's role in the EU.
Projections from the EU had the Conservatives winning 23 seats, to 19 for Labor and 15 for the UKIP.
Iraq was also an issue in Italy, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party lost about 4 percentage points, but his center-right ruling coalition appeared to hold its own, projections showed early Monday.
Turnout was a robust 73.1 percent in Italy, where Berlusconi has faced strong opposition for his decision
In Spain, Prime Minister Jose Kuis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists led by won 43.3 percent, edging the conservatives who took 41.3 percent -- an apparent vindication of the Socialists' opposition to the Iraq war, which was supported by the previous prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar.
But both Germany's Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac -- steadfast opponents of the war -- also suffered at the polls.
Schroeder's Social Democrats slumped to its worst nationwide performance since World War II -- taking just 21.5 percent, compared to 30.7 percent in the last European election five years ago, according to official results. The opposition Christian Democrats won 44.5 percent.
Germany has the largest contingent at the EU assembly, with 99 seats.
In France, Chirac's Union for the Popular Movement was projected to win about 16.5 percent of the vote, a far second behind the Socialist Party, with a projected 30 percent, according to Sofres polling firm.
Former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius called the vote a "considerable setback" for the current premier, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who came under pressure to resign after the regional elections, The Associated Press reported.
Other domestic governments also fared poorly -- including those in Austria, Denmark and Poland, where two anti-EU parties combined for 30 percent of the vote.
In Sweden the June List, an EU-opposition party created specifically for the election, garnered nearly 15 percent of the votes in an exit poll by Swedish public television broadcaster SVT, though the governing Social Democrats didn't lose any seats.
The Greek conservatives were one of the few ruling parties to emerge unscathed after Premier Costas Caramanlis scored a significant win.
CNN European Political Editor Robin Oakley contributed to this report.
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
