SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 6.9.2024
The European Parliament election is a bad omen for Americans who fear a return of convicted felon Donald Trump to the White House next January.
When people are fearful they turn increasingly Conservative.
People are inherently Conservative by nature. When a feeling of economic deprivation, and two ongoing wars are leading the news Voters find the safest harbor to vent their fears.
Throw their support to Reactionary politicians who offer easy solutions without substance.
In today’s European Parliament elections the Right wing parties have reaped a harvest of votes and seats in the European legislative body.
In Germany the Green Party, a member of the current governing coalition took a beating at the polls. Projected to finish with 11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
In France Emanuel Macron, devastated by the far right vote, dissolved the French legislative Assembly and called for a new election later this month.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.9.2024
The center-right EPP is on track to win the most seats in the European Parliament, projections show. Meanwhile, far-right parties in France, Germany and Austria have made big gains.
German Greens leader disappointed at EU election result
The co-leader of Germany’s environmentally friendly Green Party, Ricarda Lang, has reacted with disappointment at her party’s loss of votes in the European elections.
“This is not the standard we set ourselves when we went into this election, and we will work through this together,” Lang told public broadcaster ARD.
According to exit polls, the Greens are on track to receive around 12% of the vote.
In 2019, they achieved their best result ever in a European election with 20.5%.
AfD (Alternative for Deutschland) makes gains in Germany
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-elections-far-right-makes-gains-in-germany-france/live-69312194
Excerpted from Politico 6.9.2024
Alternative for Germany beats Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, who had their worst result in a national election in the party’s history.
The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union finished first in Sunday’s European election in Germany, winning 30.2 percent of the vote according to a projection for German public television.
While the conservative victory was expected, the real race in Germany was for runner-up.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was projected to finish second with 16 percent, a gain of 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU election.
If the result holds, it will be seen as a big success for a party that has been beset by scandals in recent months.
The party’s top two candidates for EU election were implicated in a series of sensational allegations of misconduct involving suspected espionage and potential Russian influence. Most recently, the party’s lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, was forced to stop campaigning after he defended members of Hitler’s Waffen-SS as not “automatically” criminals.
One of the party’s national leaders, Tino Chrupalla, called it a “historic result.” Across Europe, far-right, nationalist and populist parties are projected to make sizeable gains.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is projected to finish third with 13.9 percent, its worst result in a national election since the party was founded well over a century ago.
The Greens, who rule in a federal coalition with the SPD and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), are projected to finish with 11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
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