The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) is headed for victory in the European Parliament elections, exit polling from the EU legislature and initial figures from German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF showed on Sunday.
According to estimated trends published shortly before 6 pm (1600 GMT), the EPP could end with around around 180 of the 720 seats in the new European Parliament, a stable result compared with the 2019 election results.
Continent-wide elections for the European Parliament had their last day of voting on Sunday, in a poll that could see up to 360 million people across the 27 EU member states cast their ballots over four days.
A strong result for the EPP is a boost for current European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is seeking a second term as president of the EU's executive arm and needs support from the political right for the best chance to succeed.
Figures from ARD and ZDF were based on polls and projections. Overall, right-wing parties are likely to make the biggest gains in the European Parliament elections, according to the figures.
A strong predicted result for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany, winning nearly 30% of the vote according to exit polling from the European Parliament, demonstrated best the rightward shift taking place across the European Union.
Elsewhere, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) looks set to win the European elections in Austria with 27% of the predicted vote.
In the Netherlands, while the centre-left and environmentalist green parties held up better than expected, the far right Party for Freedom (PVV) still came a close second at nearly 18% of the vote.
Zooming out, according to the initial exit polls, the second strongest group in the new parliament remains the centre-left Social Democrats, who could end up with around 135 seats. They will be followed by the liberal Renew, which will slip to between 81 and 87 seats.
The far right Identity & Democracy (ID) is predicted to get around 70 seats, and the less radical but eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group would return just under 80 seats.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is counted among the non-attached parties, as it was excluded from the ID group shortly before the European elections.
Despite recent scandals involving AfD candidates, the party still earned 16% of the vote, according to exit polling.
The Greens would lose significantly and end up with far fewer than 60 seats in the European Parliament.
Voting has been taking place since Thursday, with the Netherlands kicking off proceedings. Ireland followed on Friday, with Czechs and Italians voting across two days.
Saturday was polling day for Latvia, Malta and Slovakia with the remaining member states holding their polls on Sunday.
Italy's firebrand Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was polling well ahead of her rivals before the final day of voting and could be poised to act as kingmaker for the next European Commission president if her Brothers of Italy (FdI) makes major gains.
Incumbent von der Leyen has been openly courting Meloni in the hope of winning the confirmatory votes of the ECR group, that Meloni now leads and whose ranks FdI candidates aim to join if elected to the European Parliament.
As the EU's third-most populous country, Italy can send a total of 76 delegates to the 720-seat European Parliament, meaning anyone who wins big there would be in a powerful position at EU level.
According to a "poll of polls" compiled by the news website Politico, the conservative FdI is in first place with 27%, six points ahead of the centre-left Democratic Party.
If forecasters' predictions continue to be correct, far-right parties will do better this time around than ever before, potentially affecting everything from EU policy on migration and climate.
In France, the far-right eurosceptic National Rally received 31.5 to 32.4% of the vote, while President Emmanuel Macron's pro-European Renaissance only received around 15.2%, broadcasters France 2 and TF1 reported on Sunday after the polls closed.
The first forecast for the distribution of seats in the new European Parliament is expected to be announced on Sunday between 8:15 pm and 8:30 pm (1815-1830 GMT).
The first preliminary results from some EU states are expected after 11 pm.
