European Parliamentary Elections Summary
Overview:
While European Parliamentary (EP) elections are significant in their own right they also provide a useful barometer of public opinion in a number of Eastern European (EE) countries. In essence, the EE results broadly mirrored those in the rest of Europe: low turnout; a shift towards the centre-right; and the election of some controversial far-right parties. Domestic political issues also, of course, dominated the election campaigning at the expense of Europe-wide issues. Otherwise it is difficult to generalise the results. Some governing parties (e.g. in Poland and Slovakia) did extremely well while others (e.g. in Hungary) did very badly. The votes suggest that GERB will be the largest party in upcoming Bulgarian parliamentary elections and that the ODS will win October parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic.