EU vote in closing stretch as far right eyes gains

Voting for the EU’s next parliament entered its final stretch on June 9 for millions of people, from Vilnius to Madrid, with early exit polls pointing to far-right gains at a pivotal time for the bloc.

Voting for the EU's next parliament entered its final stretch on June 9 for millions of people, from Vilnius to Madrid, with early exit polls pointing to far-right gains at a pivotal time for the bloc.

Preliminary results are due late on June 9, but far-right parties were on already track to take first place in Austria and second in Germany — where the outcome spelt a stinging defeat for Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Although centrist forces were expected still to dominate the next European Parliament, anti-immigrant parties have been surging across the bloc.

Much attention was now on France, the bloc's second economy after Germany.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally is predicted to score about 30%, a big jump since five years ago — and double the score of President Emmanuel Macron's liberals.

In the French city of Lyon, 83-year-old voter Albert Coulaudon said Macron was getting "mixed up" in too many international issues such as the war in Ukraine. "That scares me," he said.

More than 360 million people across the EU's 27 nations were eligible to vote, over four days since June 6, to help shape the European Union's direction over the next five years.