Europe leans right as voters choose EU Parliament

BRUSSELS – Europe was leaning to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, withconservative parties favored in many countries amid a global economic crisis.

Opinion polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain and some smaller countries.

Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and five other EU nations cast ballots in the last three days, while the rest of the 27-nation bloc voted Sunday. Results for most countries were expected later in the day.

The EU parliament has evolved over five decades from a consultative legislature to one with the power to vote on or amend two-thirds of all EU laws. It has 736 seats and lawmakers serve for five-year terms.

With most votes counted in Austria, the main rightist party was gaining strongly while the Social Democrats, the main party in the governing coalition, lost substantial ground.

The big winner was the rightist Freedom Party, which more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13 percent of the vote. It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform, with posters proclaiming "The Occident in Christian hands" and describing Sunday as "the day of reckoning."

In the Netherlands, exit polls predicted Geert Wilders' anti-Islamic party would win more than 15 percent of the country's votes, bruising a ruling alliance of Conservatives and Socialists.

For many, the Europe-wide elections were most important as a snapshot of national political sentiment. High unemployment across Europe has increased voter dissatisfaction with mainstream national parties, and skepticism over the EU's power to help spur economic recovery.

Polls predicted record low turnout and small but symbolically important gains for far-right groups and other fringe parties.

"It shows how divided the center-left forces are at the moment. Normally sitting governments are punished at European elections," said Jackie Davis, an analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels.

Groups like the all-white British National Party could use their EU parliament seats as a platform for their far-right views but were not expected to affect the assembly's increasingly influential lawmaking on issues ranging from climate change to cell-phone roaming charges.

The parliament can also amend the EU budget — euro120 billion ($170 billion) this year — and approves candidates for the European Commission, the EU administration and the board of the European Central Bank.

Still, many voters consider European Parliament members — who earn euro7,665 ($10,430) a month — to be overpaid, remote and irrelevant.

Polls ahead of Sunday's vote showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratsleading the center-left Social Democrats in Germany, which holds national elections in September. Merkel hopes to form a center-right government after the national vote with the pro-business Free Democrats.

Voters in Germany are more concerned about the costs of financial intervention than the commitment to job preservation favored by the Social Democrats, said Tanja A. Boerzel, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.

"The crisis hasn't affected Germany like it has the USA. Most Germans aren't struggling as much," she said.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party has steadily held the lead in polls, with theSocialist Party second.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People's Party held a two-digit lead over his main center-left rival in the most recent polling despite a deep recession and a scandal over allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old model.

In Britain, dissident Labour legislators said a plot to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown could accelerate after the party's expected dismal results in the European elections are announced.

Opponents say the Labour leader has been so tainted by the economic crisis and a scandal over lawmakers' expenses that the opposition Conservatives are virtually guaranteed to win the next national election, which must be called by June 2010.

Polls favored left-leaning parties in some countries, such as Greece and Portugal.

In Spain, where the recession has driven unemployment to 17.4 percent, Europe's highest, a close race was expected between the ruling Socialists and the conservative opposition.

Poland's governing pro-business Civic Platform party was expected to claim around half of the country's 50 seats, followed by the conservative nationalist Law and Justice party — a shift to the right for Poland at the European parliament.

In Hungary, where the governing Socialist Party raised taxes and cut social programs in a deep financial crisis, the main center-right opposition party, Fidesz, was slated to win at least 15 of 22 seats. Jobbik, a far-right party accused by critics of racism and anti-Semitism, was expected to win one or two.

In Sweden, the Green Party was expected to increase its support dramatically. The Pirate Party, which advocates shortening the duration of copyright protection and allowing noncommercial file-sharing between individuals, was expected to get one or two seats for the first time.

Romanian police set up checkpoints around the country after widespread allegations of voting fraud. Officials said parties were offering voters from 50-100 lei (euros 12-24, $17-$34) to vote in several towns.