Citizens of EU headed to the poll last week for electing their future. The biggest surprise this European Union election was the high voter turnout. Nearly 51% of the 400 million eligible voters cast their ballots, 8% more than the previous election in 2014. Protests against climate policy, school striking teenagers and the urge to defend the EU against euroskeptic, right-wing populist parties appear to have mobilized voters.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner from Denmark with the liberal ALDE bloc, told DW that voters had realized what was at stake.
"Voting is power," said Vestager, who herself wants to become the next president of the European Commission, Deutsch Welle reported.
"You have politicians running for the European Parliament who want to destroy it. You have parties running for the European Parliament who call themselves nationalists but who seem to be willing to sell out to the Russians. So something has been at stake, and that I think has also made people consider, 'Maybe we should vote this time.'"
The lead candidate for Europe's Socialists and Democrats, Frans Timmermans, said the high voter turnout sent "a great signal for a functioning democracy."
In the UK, partial results showed Nigel Farage's Brexit Party storming to victory, riding a wave of anger at the failure of Prime Minister Theresa May to take Britain out of the European Union,
The Brexit Party came first while explicitly pro-EU parties — the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Change UK — were, combined, a few percentage points behind, ABC reported.
In the result of the elections European People's Party (centre-right) won the majority with 179 seats. Following EPP Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament won the second place with 150 seats.
ALDE (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe + Renaissance + USR PLUS) won the thir place with 107 seats. Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance won the fourth place by 70 seats.
