Strong showing by Germany's new anti-euro party

First exit polls show that Germany’s new anti-euro party, the Alternative for Germany (AfP), is on course to win its first seats in the European Parliament, heading for 7 per cent of the vote, an increase on its showing in the 2013 general election when it failed to clear the 5 per cent threshold needed to win seats in the Bundestag.

The German centre-right parties (CDU/CSU) are performing well and could take 36 of the 99 German seats in the parliament but German liberals (FDP) appear to be taking a hit and may lose half their seats. The German Social Democrats (SPD) are performing slightly better than expected and could take 28 seats.

In Austria, the right-wing eurosceptic Freedom Party (FPÖ) has performed strongly at a projected 20 per cent of the vote, and may take four of the country’s 19 seats. The centre-right and centre-left parties are holding steady.

Meanwhile, Slovakia is notable for yet again having the lowest turnout of any country in a European Parliamentary election, with just 13 per cent of the voters bothering to cast a ballot. In the last election, Slovakia had a turn-out of just 19.6 per cent. The socialists (SMER) are in a clear lead, on course to take four of Slovakia’s nine seats.