Thread by @Yascha_Mounk

As feared, Le Pen got the most votes in France, closely followed by Macron.

The two traditional center-left and center-right parties, which once split the lion's share of the vote, will get about 15% between them.

In Germany, the center-right CDU comes top. The Greens are cementing their position as the biggest party on the left. The SPD is, once again, at a record low of 16%. The far-right AfD "only" has 11%.

For now, Germany appears to be one of the most stable countries in Europe.

In Austria, the right-wing party of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz triumphs. Social Democrats take ~ a quarter of the vote.

But the real "surprise" is that, as I predicted, the scandal of the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has harmed it less than many assumed.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Some good news from Romania: The nominally Social Democratic Party, which has long been attacking independent institutions in the country, has lost about 10% of its support, falling to second place.

In Denmark, the Social Democrats, who have taken a much harder line on immigration in the past years, come top.

This puts Mette Frederiksen in a good position to become Prime Minister in a few weeks--which will push other social democratic parties to debate whether to copy her.

Very sobering result from Poland, probably today's most important battleground between populists and democrats in Europe.

The ruling far-right Law & Justice party appears to have bested the high-profile pro-European coalition.

Bad omen for national elections in the fall.

The most shameful result of the night comes from Hungary.

In a country that is only partly free (@freedomhouse) and whose past elections were no longer free and fair (@OSCE), Fidesz gets an absolute majority.

Even so, Orban's MEPs will be seated, perhaps as part of @EPP.

The results in Italy confirm that the Lega, one of the most xenophobic parties in Europe, now dominates the country's political system.

Center-left PD and populist Five Stars neck-to-neck for second position.

Berlusconi headed to Brussels.

The big question now is just how disastrously the vote will look in Britain.

First results do not bode well: From Newcastle to Sunderland, the Brexit Party is winning big in Labour's historic strongholds.

According to John Curtis, a well-known UK pollster, Labour will finish third behind LibDems.

Very embarrassing for Corbyn if this comes true.

Spanish results are mostly in:

Center-left top with a 1/3rd of the vote, followed by center-right with 1/5th.

Liberal Ciudadanos third, followed by fading Podemos. Far-right Vox takes only 6%. Separatists strong.

Next to Germany, Spain may now be least populist big EU country.

Finally, Britain:

This is a humiliation for Corbyn's Labour (3rd, 14%) and May's Tories (5th, 9%).

On the left, the excitement about Comrade Corbyn has vanished. On the right, Tories will likely emulate the populists.

The main cleavage in UK politics is now cultural.

[End.]