Far-right political parties made significant gains during the last day of European parliamentary elections on Sunday, delivering blows to the parties of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The National Rally party is estimated to receive at least 30 percent of support in France’s elections, which is about twice the support of Macron’s Renaissance party, which is projected to receive about 15 percent of the vote, according to the European Union’s estimates as of Sunday.
Macron dissolved the lower house of the French Parliament on Sunday, announcing there would be snap elections in the country June 30 and July 7, The Associated Press (AP) reported. His announcement came after polls showed his party well behind the far-right party, the news service noted.
“I’ve decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote. I am therefore dissolving the National Assembly,” Macron said, according to the AP.
In Germany, Scholz’s Social Democratic party is projected to come in third place, behind the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is projected to come in second place, according to the European Union’s estimates.
The center-right Christian Democratic party of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was projected to receive about 30 percent of the vote in Germany, according to estimates. She delivered a speech to her German supporters on Sunday through a video, the AP reported.
“What you have already set as a trend is all the better — strongest force, stable, in difficult times and by a distance,” von der Leyen said, according to AP.
The AP noted that across the European Union, two mainstream parties, Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the top two parties.
The Associated Press contributed.