Europeans punish left-leaning parties in EU voting

[Chris]

Europeans punish left-leaning parties in EU voting

BRUSSELS – Conservatives raced toward victory in some of Europe's largest economies Sunday as exit polls showed voters punishing left-leaning parties in European Parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere

Projections showed Germany's Social Democrats heading to their worst showing in a nationwide election since World War II. Four months before a German national election, the outcome boosted conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of ending the tense left-right "grand coalition" that has led the European Union's most populous nation since 2005.

Exit polls suggested France's governing conservative party scored a resounding victory with 28.3 percent of the vote, followed by the opposition Socialist Party with 17.5 percent.

Opinion surveys and exit polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Italy and Belgium as well as Germany and France. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain and Spain, opinion polls showed.

Near final results showed Austria's main rightist party gaining strongly while the ruling Social Democrats lost substantial ground. The big winner in Austria was the rightist Freedom Party, which more than doubled its strength over the 2004 elections to 13.1 percent of the vote. It campaigned on an anti-Islam platform.

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090607/ap_on_re_eu/european_elections

[NHSparky]

How ironic.  We go left, they go right.  Think they know something we (as a country) don't yet?

[Celtic Rose]

How ironic.  We go left, they go right.  Think they know something we (as a country) don't yet?

I think that large portions of Europe have already experienced how horrible outright communism is, and they've have more socialism than we have for some time.  I think that people are finally standing up and saying that it is not working.  Our unemployment is only now reaching 10 percent, some European countries have been above that for some time, even before the recession.  I think the recession might be the tipping point for some people who were on the fence before.  Those who have experienced communism don't want to try it again.