Euobserver.com

With 427 million possible voters, across 28 EU countries, electing 751 MEPs, it's the second-biggest democratic vote in the world. The results will come thick and fast - follow them here, via the European Parliament's official results site.

A forecast by poll aggregator Britain Elects has put the Brexit Party of Nigel Farage in first place in the UK European elections, with 24 seats. The forecast sees the Liberal Democrats gaining 14 seats, to a total of 15, with Labour losing six, to have 14 MEPs, and the Conservatives losing nine, leaving them with 10 MEPs. The Greens would pick up one seat, to have four MEPs.

Far-right Marine Le Pen's National Rally won the European elections in France on Sunday, according to exit polls, with 24 percent of the vote. President Emmanuel Macron's En Marche came second with 22.5 percent of the votes. The result, if confirmed, means a comeback for Le Pen, after her defeat by Macron in 2017 in the presidential election. The Greens came in third, with 12.5 percent, beating the conservative Republicans.

Estimated turnout for the European elections among the EU-27 member states is at 51 percent - "the highest in the last 20 years" according to a European Parliament spokesman on Sunday night. Turnout figures from the United Kingdom are expected at around 11PM Brussels time. The UK estimates may see the final overall turnout range from 49 percent to 52 percent.

The Flemish far-right nationalist Vlaams Belang is set to become the second-largest party in the Belgian region, according to initial Belgian exit polls for the federal election. The party secured 18 percent of the votes. The separatist Flemish N-VA party got 27.6 percent. Belgium's prime minister Charles Michel told RTBF that the Vlaams Belang result, if confirmed, shows "the country is not spared from the power of populist extremists."

Exit polling in Greece, where the elections for the European Parliament finished at 7PM, show a big lead for the conservative New Democrat party. The ND are at 32-36 percent, according to the poll for six broadcasters, with the governing Syriza on 25-29 percent, and the neo-fascist Golden Dawn on five to seven percent. Yanis Varoufakis' Diem25 had 2.5 to 4.5 percent, possibly securing it one seat.

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz's Austrian People's Party (OVP) has a comfortable lead according to the first predictions by Austrian media. Despite Kurz's coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsing this week over the video scandal of Heinz-Christian Strache, Kurz's OVP are on 34.5 percent, the Social Democrats (SPO) 23.5 percent and the FPO 17.5 percent, with the Greens on 13.5 percent. Turnout may go over 50 percent.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats are the winner in the German EU elections with 27.5 percent of the vote, according to several exit polls. The Greens polls second with 20.5 percent of the vote, while Merkel's junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats have slumped to 15.5 percent. Right-wing Alternative for Deutschland received 10.5 percent, while the liberal Free Democrats and the far-left Die Linke got 5.5 percent.

Europeans cast their ballot on Sunday (26 May) in higher numbers than in 2014 at the EU elections, which could see a rise in populist parties in the European Parliament. In Germany and France, turnout was already at least 16 percentage points higher in the morning. Spain saw turnout up about 10 percentage points and Poland and Hungary have also reported an around 10 percentage points rise during the day.

Strong appeals from Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former EU commissioner Connie Hedegaard to take climate to heart when voting in Sunday's European elections.

EU election turnout has jumped up in Slovakia, where liberals did well on Saturday. But nationalists also scored highly in Slovakia and Latvia, leaks indicate.

"Public pressure and political engagement move things", former EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard and conservative Danish politician told cheering crowds at a large climate march in Copenhagen on the eve of European Parliament elections. Police estimated 40,000 people took part in the event, where Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg urged voters to take young people's future into consideration when voting. Aged 16 years, Tunberg is not allowed to vote herself.

Belgians will be electing MPs to six parliaments, on top of the European Parliament, with Greens expected to fare well at both the federal and regional levels.

Ireland's Green party scored high in EU elections on Friday, in the second pro-European exit poll in the 2019 vote.

After EU citizens go to the polls over the weekend, the political haggling over key EU positions starts immediately next week. And the parliament and member states seem set to clash.

The victory of the Dutch EU commissioner is news across the EU, yet the Netherlands is not allowed to publish the official result until Sunday evening.

EU leaders praised Theresa May's commitment to deliver an orderly Brexit - while they now brace themselves for an even more eurosceptic British prime minister.

This is a political crisis unprecedented in Austria since the war: the resignation of the vice-chancellor, firing of the interior minister, the mass resignation of FPO ministers, a snap election, and a no-confidence vote in the Austrian parliament on Monday.

A planned high-speed railway connection through the Alps between Italy and France has been highly controversial for decades and is pitting governing Italian coalition parties against each other. But the European Commission insists it must go ahead.

British prime minister Theresa May announced on Friday she would be resigning on June 7, following her failure three times to get the Brexit withdrawal bill through parliament. "I have done everything I can to convince MPs to back that deal ... sadly I have not been able to do so." Her departure fires the starting gun on a Conservative party leadership contest, with Boris Johnson a heavy favourite.