Most of the European Union's ruling parties were bracing themselves for a setback in European Parliament elections, according to early projections Sunday, according to dpa. In the EU's biggest economy, Germany, the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) were predicted to have gained just over 21 per cent of the vote, according to projections based on interim results published by state broadcaster ZDF. The result was well below expectations. By contrast, the SPD's coalition partner, the conservative alliance of Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, matched expectations with 38 per cent of the vote, the early polls showed. "I would have wished for a better result," said Martin Schulz, a German who heads the European Parliament's Socialist Grouping (PSE). "It is a disappointing result, there is no other way of putting it," said German Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the SPD. In Greece, the main opposition Socialist PASOK party defeated the ruling New Democracy Party, winning around 37 per cent of the votes against the conservatives' 34 per cent, exit polls said. In Finland, three of the country's four ruling parties were each set to loose a seat in the new European Parliament, according to exit polls. Governing parties were also predicted to have suffered heavy defeats in Britain, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown was battling for political survival, as well as in Ireland, Austria, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. The ballot for the European Parliament came as the bloc was in the midst of its worst recession in decades, prompting analysts to suggest that voters were out to punish their governments for rising unemployment. However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi were both widely tipped to emerge victorious, in no small part due to the lack of an effective opposition by mainstream social-democratic parties in their countries. Analysts expected fringe parties on both the extreme left and right of the political spectrum to do well. In Austria, three eurosceptic movements, including far-right parties, were tipped to have won 36 per cent of the votes, while the anti-Islamic Freedom Party PVV of Geert Wilders made impressive gains in the Netherlands. The results in both countries were fuelled by growing resentment against immigrants at a time of economic crisis. Four days of voting for the European Parliament were due to draw to a close at 10 pm Central European Time (2000 GMT), when polling stations were to close in all 27 member states. The "Super Sunday" balloting involved voters in 19 EU countries. Polling had already taken place between Thursday and Saturday in Britain, the Netherland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ireland, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia. The European Parliament in Brussels planned to announce the first preliminary results for the entire bloc later in the evening. Estimates on overall turnout - an indication of the level of citizens' interest in the EU's only directly-elected body - were expected to be published at around 9 pm local time (1900 GMT). Surveys and preliminary estimates suggested that just under half of the EU's 375 million eligible voters bothered to turn up at polling stations. In terms of overall results, most analysts expected the conservative European People's Party (EPP) to maintain its status as the European Parliament's largest group, ahead of the left-of-centre PES. Such an outcome would boost the chances of Jose Manuel Barroso, a conservative from Portugal, obtaining a second mandate as head of the European Commission. While commission presidents are chosen by EU heads of state and government, candidates have to receive the backing of the European Parliament.
