President of the center-right European People's Party Manfred Weber reacts next to European Commission President and EPP lead candidate Ursula von der Leyen (R) during an EPP election evening after the vote for the European Parliament election in Brussels on June 9, 2024. /CFP
The center-right European People's Party (EPP) is projected to remain the largest party group in the 2024 European Parliament (EP) election, securing 181 seats, according to the EP's first aggregated results estimate on Sunday.
The center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) follows with 135 seats, while Renew Europe (RE) is projected to be the third-largest group with 83 seats.
The results indicate a shift in the political landscape, with centrist parties losing seats and far-right groups making significant gains. Though still the third-largest group in the parliament, RE saw a substantial loss of 22 seats compared to the last election in 2019, while the Greens/European Free Alliance lost 19 seats.
On the far right, the Identity and Democracy (ID) group gained 9 seats, reaching 57, and the European Conservatives and Reformists secured 71 seats.
The projections are based on provisional results from 24 European Union (EU) member states, national estimates from two other nations, and pre-electoral data from one.
The pro-European political group RE, which includes French President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, took a heavy hit. In France, the Renaissance party garnered 15.2 percent of the votes, much behind the far-right National Rally, which received 31.8 percent.
Following the defeat, Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly on Sunday evening. "This is a serious, weighty decision. But it is above all an act of trust," he said, adding that elections to the National Assembly will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.
In Germany, support for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party fell to a projected 13.9 percent of the vote, placing it behind the right-wing Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place. The Greens saw a heavy blow with an 11.9 percent vote, a dramatic drop from a record result of 20.5 percent in 2019.
In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party, part of the ID group in the EP, is set to win the EP election for the first time, according to a forecast published by Austrian media when voting closed on Sunday.