FACTBOX-EU vote: the domestic fall-out across Europe
FRANCE: Emmanuel Macron's allies put a brave face as exit polls showed a narrow defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National party but such a result would be a clear setback for the French leader, who had personally invested time in campaigning for the European vote. His Elysee Palace said it would "intensify" his reform effort. GERMANY: Angela Merkel's ruling conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition allies both suffered losses, bleeding support to the Greens in a further test for their loveless coalition. For the SPD, the poor result was exacerbated by a separate defeat in Sunday's Bremen state election, but party leader Andrea Nahles insisted she would remain in the federal coalition with the CDU.
AUSTRIA: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will likely be strengthened in his fight to keep his job until early elections expected in September as a projection showed his conservative party coming a clear first in Sunday's EU vote despite a recent scandal involving his erstwhile far-right coalition partner. GREECE: The opposition New Democracy conservative party held a tidy lead over ruling leftist Syriza in European Parliament elections on Sunday, an exit poll showed. That will be seen as a setback for PM Alexis Tsipras and his reelection effort in a vote scheduled for this year.
BULGARIA - The ruling centre-right GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov won 30.5-32.7% of the vote, according to exit polls by two independent pollsters. The win gives Borissov’s coalition government some respite after a scandal over purchases of luxury properties at low prices. CYPRUS: The Democratic Rally, the ruling conservative party came first in Cyprus with 29 percent of the vote, with opposition Communist Akel coming a close second with 27 percent. Based on projected results, Cyprus was to get its first Turkish Cypriot MEP, academic Niyazi Kizilyurek, making history on the ethnically-split island.
(Compiled by Mark John in London with bureaus)
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