Eurotopics.net

According to exit polls, the conservative Les Républicains have unexpectedly emerged as the strongest party in the first round of France's regional elections, followed by Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National. Meanwhile, President Macron's La République en Marche barely managed to secure fifth place. Voter turnout was at an all-time low of 33.9 per cent, prompting observers to sound the alarm.

The ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi has won the presidential election in Iran. Raisi, the former head of the country's judiciary, had been the clear favourite out of the seven conservative candidates that the country's Guardian Council had allowed to stand for election. Only 48 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. Raisi has been accused of crimes against humanity by the UN, Amnesty International and others.

Turkey's Constitutional Court has accepted an indictment seeking a ban on the left-wing, pro-Kurdish HDP party, opening the way for a case to close it down. And just last Thursday the party was rocked by an attack on its offices in Izmir in which employee Deniz Poyraz was shot and killed by an ultra-nationalist. A board meeting with 40 people at the same location had been cancelled shortly beforehand.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the conservative Partido Popular, who governs with the support of the far-right Vox party, officially began her new term on Saturday. Commentators analyse her first policy announcements after her election victory at the start of May and contemplate, with some apprehension, the prospect of Ayuso aspiring to higher office.

As the number of coronavirus cases continues to fall in most European countries, more and more restrictions are being lifted. But the political will to go beyond the old normality is lacking, some commentators complain. A missed opportunity and risky to boot, they say.