Eurosceptic parties have huge gains in European Parliament elections

(Vatican Radio)  Eurosceptic parties had a strong showing in weekend elections for the European Parliament.  The UK Independence Party won 23 seats in Britain, with the Conservative and Labour parties each winning 18 seats.  The Liberal Democrats – the minority party in the ruling coalition – was literally decimated, going from 10 seats to 1.  This put them behind even the Green Party, which won 3 seats.

In France, the rightist National Front topped the polls, winning 25 seats, while in Greece the leftist anti-European party Syriza came on top with 26% of the vote. The Ruling parties of Italy and Germany both won the most number of seats in their respective countries, although Eurosceptic groups still did well.

Despite the doubling of seats by Eurosceptic parties, established pro-EU parties were forecast to remain the biggest groups in the parliament. The centre-right European Peoples Party Group looks set to win 211 seats, down from 274, but still the parliament's biggest group.