EP: Eurosceptic Brexit Party leads in UK election

LONDON

The newly formed Brexit Party leads in U.K.’s European elections according to non-official provisional results revealed late on Sunday.

The two mainstream parties -- Conservatives and Labour -- have suffered disappointing results as they lost votes to parties with clearer strategies for Brexit conundrum.

With an agenda of keeping the country as part of the bloc, the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) are in the second place in the election.

As voters who would like the U.K. to leave the EU without a deal voted for the Brexit Party, those who would like to remain in the bloc preferred to cast their votes for the Liberal Democrats.

According to the results so far 64 new members of the European Parliament from the U.K. have been declared. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has won 28 seats.

Pro-EU Liberal Democrats have won 15 seats, Labour 10, Greens 7, Conservatives 3 and Plaid Cymru one so far.



Brexit Party

Formed in 2019 by former U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, the Eurosceptic Party has gathered momentum quickly thanks to Leave voters who have been disappointed with the handling of Brexit negotiations and two extensions by the leading Tories.

The party has received around one-third of all votes, according to the provisional results.

Farage, who campaigned to leave the bloc before the 2016 Brexit referendum, is a populist leader who is known with his far-right and anti-immigration rhetoric.

He has exploited Turkey’s candidacy for full EU membership during his Brexit propaganda and other election campaigns.



Lib Dems

The pro-EU Lib Dems have received 20% of the votes to sit in the second place.

The party has gained momentum with its policy towards a second referendum among remainers.



Tories and Labour

The ruling Conservative Party has dropped to the fifth place with one of its poorest electorate performances for years thanks to its failure in the Brexit process.

As the party is split into two among Brexiteer and remainer MPs, Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to resign as party leader last Friday by her party due to poor performance in elections and its handling of Brexit.

The Conservatives so far have received 10% of overall votes.

The Labour Party also saw losses in support as they received 15% of the votes.

The poor result came with unclear Brexit policies and especially for not supporting the Remain cause openly despite warnings from its voters.



UKIP

The now-racist and openly Islamophobe UKIP has been wiped out as it received only 3.3 % of the votes so far.

The turnout for the European Parliament election in the U.K. was 37%.