European voters punish the left!

Spain's centre-right Popular Party was one of the night's big winners

Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left.

Far-right and anti-immigrant parties also made gains, as turnout figures plunged to between 43 and 44%.

The UK Labour Party, Germany's Social Democrats and France's Socialist Party were heading for historic defeats.

Correspondents say the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) looks set to continue to hold power in the parliament.

FALLING TURNOUT 1979 - 62% 1984 - 59% 1989 - 58% 1994 - 57% 1999 - 50% 2004 - 45% 2009 - 43% UK Labour's historic defeat Q&A: European elections 2009 Robinson: Brown in a hole

Jose Manuel Barroso, who seems set for a second term as European Commission president following the centre-right success, thanked voters and assured them their voices would be heard.

"Overall, the results are an undeniable victory for those parties and candidates that support the European project and want to see the European Union delivering policy responses to their everyday concerns," he said.

Socialist leader Martin Schulz said his group's defeat would be analysed.

"It's a sad evening for social democracy in Europe. We are particularly disappointed, [it is] a bitter evening for us," he said.

Vice-president of the European Commission Margot Wallstrom said the low turnout was a "bad result".

Fringe groups appear to have benefited, with far-right and anti-immigrant parties picking up seats in the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Slovakia and Hungary. The British National Party won two seats - its first ever in a nationwide election.

Hungary's Jobbik party was one of several far-right groups to do well

Sweden's Pirate Party, which wants to legalise internet file sharing, won 7% of the national vote and one of the country's 18 seats in the European Parliament.

Several governments battling the economic downturn are facing a heavy defeat, says the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels.

However, governing parties in France and Germany appear to have done relatively well despite the crisis. In results so far:

• French President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP trounced socialist opponents, while greens from the Europe-Ecologie party also made gains
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing centre-right grouping lost ground but finished ahead of its rivals. The Social Democrats, Ms Merkel's partners in the grand coalition, saw their worst election showing since World War II
• In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition is ahead of the socialist opposition, with almost 36% of the vote
• In the UK, the governing Labour Party suffered a serious defeat, gaining its lowest share of the vote for a century
• Spain's governing Socialists were slightly behind the opposition Popular Party, according to partial results
• Poland's governing centre-right Civic Platform has gained ground at the expense of the Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party
• Early results show Portugal's ruling Socialists dropped a massive 18 percentage points, losing out mainly to Greens and far-left parties

Voters have been choosing representatives mainly from their own national parties, many of which then join EU-wide groupings with similarly-minded parties from other countries.

The centre-right EPP retains its place as the largest grouping for the last five years, securing an estimated 267 seats out of 736 (down from the previous 785). The centre-left PES is on 159, while the liberal ALDE has an estimated 81.

Provisional figures released by the EU suggested turnout was at an all-time low in some countries, including France (40.5%) and Germany (43.3%).

In Malta, on the other hand, it was 78.8%, and in Belgium 85.9%.

Turnout has fallen at each European election in the last 30 years, from nearly 62% in 1979 to 45.47% in 2004.

BBC NEWS REPORT.