The European Union held elections to the European Parliament. The voting ended with sensations and political crisis for some politicians. Find out what the preliminary results of the elections are and what to expect now

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On Sunday, 9 June, the European Union countries held the final votes in the European Parliament elections. The preliminary results show that the European right-wing forces managed to strengthen their positions, while some politicians failed in the elections. Here's a look at the political situation brewing in the EU and what Ukrainians need to know.

What do the preliminary election results look like?

- European People's Party - 186 seats;

- Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats - 135 seats;

- The Union of Liberal Politicians "Renewing Europe" - 79 seats;

- Group of Conservatives and Reformists - 73 seats;

- Identity and Democracy - 58 seats;

- The Green Group - 52 seats;

- Left - 36 seats;

- Unaffiliated - 45 seats;

- MPs who do not belong to any political group - 55 seats.

Marine Le Pen is ahead of Macron's party, and Scholz's party is third

Experts had predicted the success of the right-wing before the election. Opinion polls showed that they could expect to strengthen their position in the European Parliament in the upcoming vote.

The far right is particularly popular in key EU countries. For example, in France, the right-wing radical National Rally of the pro-russian Marine Le Pen with 31.5 per cent of the vote was more than twice as far ahead of its closest pursuer, President Emmanuel Macron's National Revival. Against the backdrop of his party's failure, the French president dissolved the French parliament.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the right-wing radical Alternative for Germany came in second, but was ahead of Olaf Scholz's ruling Social Democrats and other coalition parties in the Bundestag.

In Italy, the right-wing Brothers of Italy party of Giorgi Meloni, the current prime minister, also won.

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Pro-russian Orban and Fico are out

Hungary's ruling Fidesz party appears to have had the worst result in the European Parliament elections. Preliminary results showed that opposition leader Péter Magyar and his Tisza party won almost 30% of the vote.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and its smaller allies won 44.6 per cent, significantly lower than polls had suggested.

Over the past two decades, Fidesz has only once won less than 50 per cent of the vote - 47.4 per cent in 2004. According to the preliminary results, Orban will win 11 MEPs, and Magyar will win seven seats.

And the Slovak prime minister and his party Smer-SD ("Course - Social Democracy") were defeated by the opposition party Progressive Slovakia (PS).

According to the Election Commission, the opposition party received 27.81% of the vote and won the election. The Smer-SD party came in second with 24.76%.

Nevertheless, the result of the European elections is a success for both PS and Smer-SD: each of them gained two more seats. In the new European Parliament, PS will have six MEPs and Smer will have five.

"The winning Progressive Slovakia is a pro-Western liberal party, unlike Fico's party, which criticised the European Union's support for Ukraine.

What results are predicted for the far right and what does this mean for Ukraine?

A week before the elections, right-wing, eurosceptic and populist parties, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), were leading in polls in nine EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia) and were in second or third place in nine other countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden).

In this case, the share of far-right MPs in the European Parliament may increase to 25% (they are expected to win 184 seats), while centre-left, liberal and green parties, on the contrary, will lose their seats.

We wrote that the success of the right-wing in the elections could change the situation with support for Ukraine, as these politicians often have more "pro-russian" views.

At the same time, analysts believe that most MEPs of the new convocation are likely to support the continuation of financial and military assistance to Ukraine, but with due regard to the mood within their countries.

There are several examples of right-wing leaders in the EU who clearly support Ukraine. One of them is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who came to power and helped Ukraine receive air defence systems and other weapons from Italy.

We remind you! Ukraine has already managed to launch effective strikes with Western weapons on russian territory. The first US missiles flew into russia a few hours after Washington officially authorised the use of its weapons. We will tell you what targets have already been hit by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and how this affects the russians here.

Want to know more? Read the latest news and useful materials about Ukraine and the world in the News section.

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