Many Social Democratic parties have suffered record defeats in the European Union parliamentary elections. On Thursday, the Dutch Labour Party won only three of the 25 seats reserved for the Netherlands in the European Parliament, a loss of four. Labour obtained just over 12 percent of the vote, a record low.

In Great Britain Labour also suffered historic losses. With 15.3 percent of the vote, Labour came in third behind the Conservatives and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which wants Great Britain to withdraw from the EU.

It was Labour's worst result since the Second World War and an unexpected victory for the UKIP. The far-right British National Party entered the European Parliament for the first time with two seats.

The Social Democrats also suffered their worst defeat since the Second World War in Germany and Austria. However. the Social Democrats remain the second largest faction in the European Parliament.

The centre-right European People's Party-European Democrats group (EPP) is still the largest parliamentary coalition - it consists for the most part of Christian Democratic and conservative parties. The EPP obtained more or less the same results as five years ago.

The German Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) lost seats, while the centre-right parties of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gained votes. 

The liberal faction - the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) - did not score as well as in 2004, but is still the third largest faction. The Greens have become the fourth largest faction, rising from 43 to 50 seats. The number of seats in the new house has been cut back from 785 in 2004 to 736 in 2009. The turnout this year was around 43 percent, a record low.
 

(Photo: Flickr)