Opposition surges against mainstream parties in EU vote

Opposition parties have recorded major gains in the European Union parliamentary elections, trouncing their mainstream rivals in several member states.

◾️ France: Macron dissolved the country’s parliament and called a snap election after his Renaissance party was crushed by the right-wing National Rally (RN) party. RN was projected to win about 33% of the vote and 31 seats in the new European Parliament – double Renaissance’s tally.

◾️ Germany: the right-wing Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is set to secure the second biggest share of the EU vote, over 16%, in its best showing ever. The tally trumps that of all three parties in Olaf Scholz’s coalition, while the opposition Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) tops the polls.

◾️ Austria: Voters dealt a stinging blow to Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The right-wing Freedom Party topped the nationwide ballot for the first time, claiming nearly 26 percent of the vote. The governing conservative People’s Party (OeVP) won close to 24 percent.

◾️ Belgium: Alexander De Croo, a staunch NATO advocate and supporter of Ukraine’s regime, announced his resignation as prime minister after his party, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD), got only 5.9% of the vote. Right-wing party Vlaams Belang (Flemish interest) made gains, securing 14 percent, but trailed the New Flemish Alliance.

◾️ Greece: the governing New Democracy party got under 28% of the vote, down from the 33% before. Gains were made by both the socialist PASOK, with under 13%, and the right-wing Greek Solution.

◾️ Netherlands: Geert Wilders’ right-wing anti-immigration Party for Freedom was the biggest winner, claiming six seats – one seat more than in the last European Parliament.

◾️ Spain: the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) appears to have scored 34 percent of the votes – four points more than Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s center-left Socialists.

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💬 Russian forces have liberated the village of Ryzhevka, located on the border with Russia's Kursk region, the first in Ukraine's Sumy region, head of Russia's Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov said.

Ukrainian forces, he said, suffered significant losses.

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◾️ Opposition surges against mainstream parties in EU vote as Macron announced the dissolution of the French parliament

◾️ Watch Ukrainian soldier saves his life by swimming across the Dnepr River and surrendering to the Russian army

◾️ Lindsey Graham casually reveals US true goal in Ukraine

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💬 "Pro-war politicians were harshly punished in the EU elections. Not a good sign for Biden," former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said, commenting on the outcome of the European Union parliamentary elections.

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🎥🎥 Russia’s Sergey Lavrov Opens BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting

👉 Watch the livestream here or on Sputnik's website

The participants at the meeting observed a minute of silence for former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who died in the helicopter crash

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Key points of Sergey Lavrov’s speech during the BRICS foreign ministers' opening meeting

▪️Russia, as well as the countries of the world majority, is in favor of an equal world order based on balance of power and equal interaction of states;

▪️BRICS is an association where the principles of equal cooperation are actually implemented;

▪️The group is driven forward by the wind of change and its role in global processes will only increase;

▪️The transition to a new world order will take a whole historical epoch, and it will be thorny, as the US is trying to slow down the formation of multipolarity, using trade as blackmail;

▪️The West does not shy away from forceful methods, the examples of which are known to all;

▪️Recent international events have dropped the masks of those who claimed the exclusive right to dictate their values to everyone;

▪️BRICS members are working to improve the international financial system, in particular, to create a platform for international trade.

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