Conservatives Win European Elections

Preliminary election results on Sunday showed a slight drop in turnout for elections for the European Parliament in Strasbourg. On average, only 44.6 percent of eligible European voters turned up at their local polling stations to vote for the members of parliament who will represent their countries.

Though no single trend marked the election, in a number of countries voters punished incumbent governments for everything from social system reforms to Iraq war policies. Other elections were clouded by low voter turnout.

Despite their newfound membership in the EU, many Eastern Europeans shied away from the pools. While 47.7 percent of registered voters in the original EU member states cast ballots Sunday, a meager 28.7 percent of voters in the new member states participated in the election.

Early results in Germany showed the conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, leading with about 45 percent. Though the parties registered slight losses over 1999, they still managed to gain almost half of Germany's seats in parliament -- more than double that of the Social Democrats. Leading opposition politicians declared Sunday that new federal parliamentary elections for the Bundestag should be held in the wake of the decisive European vote.

Voters on Sunday dealt the governing Social Democratic Party a serious blow, reducing its mandate in parliament by 9.3 percent drop to 21 percent. The Greens, the junior government coalition partner, racked up a gain of 5.4 percent, with 11.8 percent of the voters, and the business-friendly Free Democratic Party gained 3 percent, attracting 6 percent of the votes. The Party of Social Democracy, the successor to East Germany's Communist Party, also gained 0.4 percent, or 6.2 percent of the vote.

The success of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats was mirrored across Europe, with its Strasbourg counterpart, the European People's Party (EPP) gaining the largest number of seats in parliament. A Gallup poll showed EPP winning between 247 and 277 of parliaments total 732 seats. But the Social Democrats, were only expected to win 189 to 209 seats. The Liberals are expected to win third place, with the Greens and Socialists following. In the last European election in 1999, the EPP also gained the biggest number of seats.

Head-to-head race in Austria

Elsewhere in Europe, early results also trickled out Sunday evening.

In France, the opposition Socialists won a decisive victory over the political camp of French President Jacques Chirac. Election night exit polls showed the Socialists gaining 8 points, with a total of 30 percent of the votes. Chirac's conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) scored 16.5 percent of the votes and the center-right Union for French Democracy attracted about 12 percent of voters -- a marked turnaround from the parties' domestic electoral triumph in 2002.

Critical Brits

In Great Britain, euroskeptics scored a triumphant victory. The once marginal UK Independence Party, which has called on Britain to leave the EU, won 18 percent of the vote, drawing many voters from the conservative Tories. The British voted on Thursday night, with the governing Labor Party chalking up major losses. Tony Blair's Labor lost a total of 6 points, gaining just 22 percent of the votes. But the Tories fared even worse, falling 14 percentage points to 22 percent.

Opposition gains in Czech Republic

Exit polls in the Czech Republic released on Saturday night showed a dismal 10.5 percent result for the governing Social Democrats, whereas the euroskeptic ODS party of President Vaclav Havel was set to gain 31 percent of voters. The dramatically anti-European KSCM party, meanwhile, was expected to score 17 percent of the votes.

In Denmark, exit polls showed the opposition Social Democrats winning the European Election. There, the Social Democrats were poised to double their 1999 result, gaining 33.5 percent of the votes -- in a clear voter reaction against the policies of the conservative government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose party lost about 5 percentage points, down to 18.7 percent.

A punishing day for incumbents

In Malta, the governing Nationalists have already conceded defeat. The island's citizens went to the polls on Saturday, and the party's general secretary, Joe Saliba, declared that the opposition Workers' Party won the majority. The Worker's Party will get three seats in parliament, with the remaining two going to the Nationalists. Voter turnout in Malta was far greater than in other EU states, with 82 percent of citizens casting ballots.

Incumbent governments were also punished by voters in Ireland, Latvia and The Netherlands. In the EU's largest new member state, Poland, polls showed the governing left party gaining just 11 percent of the vote, with exceptionally low voter turnout of 30 percent.

But Greece's conservative government bucked what otherwise appeared to be a trend by gaining voters. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis's New Democracy Party scored 42.5 percent of the votes, close to 10 percentage points more than the opposition socialist PASOK party.

In Austria, the opposition Social Democrats (SPÖ) were in a head-to-head race with the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), led by Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. ÖVP's junior coalition party, the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) appeared on course for a dramatic fall -- from 23 to only 6 percent. The day's big surprise in Austria, however, was Hans-Peter Martin, an independent member of parliament and anti-corruption campaigner who won 14 percent of the votes and two seats for his list of independent candidates. In May, Martin created waves after accusing his colleagues in parliament of padding their expense reports and committing petty fraud.

On the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, the left-leaning AKEL Party appeared on track to become the country's strongest party in the European Parliament. Cypriot broadcaster RIK reported that the party was on track to win 29 percent of the votes and two of the country's seats in parliament. Meanwhile, the opposition right-wing DISY was on track to get 25 percent of the vote and two seats in Strasbourg. Despite Cypriot law requiring all eligible citizens to vote, turnout also appeared relatively low.

Three months after its domestic parliamentary victors, Spain's Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), led by Prime Minister José Rodriguez Zapatero, also appeared on course to become the most powerful Spanish party in Strasbourg.

A message from voters

Citizens across Europe this week used the European election as an opportunity to send a warning vote to their national governments. In Britain, Denmark, the Czech Republic and other EU states, governing parties lost a considerable number of voters and seats to either the opposition or euroskeptical parties. In many places, critics of European unity were on an ascendant course, like in Britain, where the anti-EU UK Independence Party scored a major upset.

Low turnout

Voter apathy proved to be another uncomfortable trend. Despite the membership of 10 new states in the EU, a total of less than 45 percent of European voters made their voices be heard.