Between the 23rd – 26th of May, members of the European Union set out to vote for Members in the European Parliament (MEPs). The European Parliamentary elections are usually uneventful, but with Brexit looming and the rise of populist parties, this year’s election churned out more surprises than usual.

Al-Jazeera explains that “the EU is often considered an obscure and technocratic body – somewhere between a nation-state and an international organisation such as the United Nations. Many have lost faith in its ability to improve their lives.”

After the vote, however, it is clear that fragmentation will now define the European Parliament as the Greens and far-right populists gained more seats. Vox states: “…the message is clear: European voters want a change. Both the centre-left and the centre-right appear to have lost their absolute majorities for the first time since 1979 when the first European parliamentary elections were held.

Voters on the left and center instead threw support to the pro-environment, pro-EU Green parties(known as the “Greens”) and liberals. But far-right populist and nationalist parties led by the likes of Italy’s Matteo Salvini and France’s Marine Le Pen also bolstered their position in the European Parliament.”

According to Vox, here are five big takeaways from the election include:

• The Green Party’s success: “The Greens came in second place in Germany with a whopping 20 percent of the vote, beating the traditional centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The Greens had their best-ever results in Finland, picking up more than 16 percent of the vote.”
• Far-Right Populists did not perform as well as people expected them to: “The far right will hold about 25 percent of the seats in the European Parliament, up from about 20 percent. It’s their best showing ever, but also not exactly a European sweep. And the nationalist parties did better in some EU countries compared to others.”
• The Centre Parties Caved: “The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) have essentially ruled the European Parliament since 1979.” This weekend, however, they lost their majority status to parties like the Green Party and some “fringe” parties.
• A no-deal Brexit became more likely: According to a British Citizen, Jessica McClellan who spoke on the matter: “The number of seats gained is always taken as an indicator of public opinion, rather than the actual vote numbers. And, what’s really depressing is that the Tories will now be even more influenced by the Brexiteer right-wing, [be] more likely to crash out without a deal (probably with Boris at the helm) and will now screw up the country for decades to come.” Vox reports: “
• The EU has said that May’s Brexit deal remains the one and only Brexit deal available and that renegotiation is not an option. “I was crystal clear,” EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday. “There will be no renegotiation.” With the same unpopular deal as the only one on offer, the next prime minister must try to find some way to sell May’s deal better than she could — or take the UK out of the EU without a deal on October 31. A no-deal Brexit would be bad for the EU but likely worse for the UK. In this scenario, the UK will cease to be a member of the EU literally overnight. All the trade and regulatory arrangements that it once shared as part of the EU will evaporate — which could deal a devastating blow to the economy and cause short-term disruptions in the supply of food, medicine, and other goods.
• The elections were much more a story of 28 different elections rather than one collective European narrative. “In the UK, the elections were a referendum on Brexit. France witnessed a rematch of the 2017 election between Le Pen and Macron, though this time, Macron brought his baggage from his first years in office.” Spain, Italy, Germany and Greece had similar stories, where Spain’s “centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE)… strengthened its performance in the European elections, likely making it the most dominant party in the centre-left bloc in the European Parliament.”
  

“So, while millions voted in the world’s second-largest election to pick their representatives for the European Parliament, their concerns (and their votes) had far more to do with the political debates and divisions back home than anything else.”

Finally,The Hill reports: “Reinforcing the strength of liberal Europe, of course, is the widespread negative reaction among Europeans to an American president who has shown little understanding of the importance of the Atlantic alliance. As Donald Trump’s former henchman Steve Bannon works to organise a trans-Atlantic national-populist alliance, European horror of the spread of Trumpism may be contributing to a revival of liberal Europe.”