Nosemonkey's EUtopia

In search of a European identity

Twittering the European elections results

I’m on Twitter at the moment, blathering away more or less incoherently with a bunch of other Eurobloggers (@JonWorth, @JulienFrisch, @kosmopolit, @citizeneurope, @EuropeanCitizen and a bunch of others) as the results and rumours come in.

Follow along via the hashtags #eu09 and #ep09 – your best bet is probably to use Twitterfall to follow the various tweets live. It’s fairly simple to use, it must be said – just add a bunch of searches into the “Custom” field in the left-hand column (I’m using #ep09, #eu09, EU, Europe and elections), and get real-time commentary from all over the shop. Some of it’s rubbish, naturally – this is the internet – but some is surprisingly good.

Current trend – at 8:45pm UK time, so 15 minutes from the results – seems to be a surge in support for the right (both centre right and far right), with mostly falling turnouts yet again, though ranging member state to member state from c.20% to c.80%. But with national issues likely to dominate everywhere, working out Europe-wide reasons for any apparent trends is something to be treated with great caution.

Below the fold – my Twitter contributions from the night (in chronological order, starting c.8:45pm UK time, ending c.2:30am UK time – and for Twitter newcomers, “RT” indicates where I’m quoting someone else):

Wow – passably interesting live coverage from EuroparlTV! (Well, interesting if you’re a bit of a geek…) http://tinyurl.com/quudxp

Anyone know of alternatives (FR/EN ideally) to the BBC’s fancy graphical EU elections thingie? http://tinyurl.com/o8x7lg #ep09 #eu09

Good news for lefties – in Greece, at any rate: http://tinyurl.com/qxtma5 The right doing well pretty much everywhere else #ep09 #eu09

RT @jonworth Swedish Pirates get 7.4% so 1 MEP at least. http://tr.im/nIDZ #eu09 #ep09 [I utterly insist they dress as pirates AT ALL TIMES]

RT @demsoc Early turnout figures for #ep09 – new low of 43% [Yay for democratic engagement! I hate people sometimes…] #eu09

#eu09 now seems t be trending in Twitterfall… #ep09

Declan Ganley trailing in 5th place, according to the BBC. So much for Libertas… #ep09 #eu09

RT @JulienFrisch #eu09 hashtag has made it on the global Twitter trends. [Hurrah! A few days too late, but still…] #ep09

Oh Christ – not Jeremy sodding Vine and his sodding patronising graphical bullshit… #eu09 #ep09

RT @ConnectIrmeli: #eu09 #ep09 Finland: Big winners are True Finns (rising EU critic) and Greens, all three big parties (Right, Centre, Left) losing votes

Christ – the Socialists have absolutely collapsed in France. Minus 18% share of vote, and minus 11 MEPs! Sarkozy’s lot up. #ep09 #eu09

Dear anti-BNP protest types in Manchester – don’t get aggressive at BNP twat Griffin – he’ll only use the footage for self-promotion

RT @dnotice Less likely BNP will win a NW seat, as in Burnley Lib Dems are looking as if they will come 1st http://is.gd/RYbE #ep09 #eu09

RT @dnotice RT @StopNickGriffin: Looks like BNP can’t win – LD & Green for final seat – v high Green in Manc & L’pool seems to have done it!

RT @jonnelledge SNP probably beat Labour in Scotland, even though SNP in power up there. Christ, they’re fucked, aren’t they? #eu09 #ep09

RT @RTE_Elections: Across Europe, no sign of Libertas candidates being elected yet in other member states, apart from France #ep09 #eu09

RT @siliconglen: #eu09 Labour in 6th place? wow. http://bit.ly/CMyCD

Hmmm… Greens, Liberals and Socialists all up (slightly) in Germany. That “right on the rise” trend seems less clear #ep09 #eu09

@JulienFrisch Ah – fair enough. My knowledge of German politics these days is next to non-existent…

William Hague: “All the main EP groups are too pro-EU.” What about the IND group, Bill? Tories would be an ideal fit with Farrage’s lot…

Anyone know why France and Germany, who voted today, already have full results out, but the UK has NOTHING, despite voting days ago? #eu09

RT @kosmopolit @Nosemonkey German TV had UK result (forecast?) 20 min ago: CON 26% UKIP 18 % LAB 16% GREENS 10% LIB 12% as far as I remember

RT @bloggers4ukip: Independence & Democracy group loses all 9 MEPs in Poland – Poland is now a eurofederalist country #eu09 [Ha ha ha!]

Labour still 1st in the North East? I wasn’t expecting that, even though it IS the North East… #eu09 #ep09

RT @JulienFrisch RT @Tayebot: First estimations of the new hemicycle online: http://bit.ly/11OdNi SOURCE: TNS #eu09 #ep09

RT @tim_woodall: The Apprentice more of a trending topic than the election! [And this is why democracy is screwed…] #ep09 #eu09

RT @tpcom provisional #eu09 results PES 155-167 EPP 263-273 Greens 52-56 ALDE 78-84 GUE 33-37 UEN 33-37 IND 1519 Others 83-89 http://is.gd/

RT @Eurocentrique Just got back from the European Parliament – walked into a press room at one stage and saw 30 screens all on twitter :)

IND Group’s loss of all nine MEPs in Poland now confirmed by the BBC. EPP up 30% – Cameron’s new Group looking even more silly #eu09 #ep09

“The Poles may be the biggest national bloc within the EPP” – BBC’s Alan Little. Nice move, Cameron! Could have been the Tories. #ep09 #eu09

RT @jonworth Eric Pickles is shockingly bad. “We won’t ally with anti-gay parties” – so what is PiS / Law & Justice in Poland, Eric? Idiot.

RT @ALDEgroup Libertas’ Declan Ganley 4th place after the 1st count “virtually no chance” of a seat in Ireland’s North West. #eu09 #ep09

RT @pickledpolitics Eric Pickles didn’t know what to say… as to why Tories didn’t gain from Labour in Eastern region. hilarious #ep09 #eu09

Christ – BNP ahead of the Tories in Barnsley? Right – new first strike coordinates for when I get the nuke codes… #eu09 #ep09

Yorkshire & the Humber – BNP get 120,139… Fuck you, Yorkshire. #ep09 #eu09

FUCK. British Nazi Party gets a seat. Fuck you thoroughly, Yorkshire and the Humber. #eu09 #ep09

RT @jonworth Britain’s best Labour MEP, Richard Corbett, loses his seat to Andrew Brons of BNP. Awful, awful. #eu09 #ep09 [I hadn’t twigged]

RT @jamesgraham Polls seem to have consistently over represented the Greens. #ep09 #eu09 [in the UK, at any rate]

So, farewell then, Richard Corbett: The only non-mental MEP to ever get regular UK media coverage, and the first MEP to blog. #eu09 #ep09

Oh God, an articulate, middle-class racist MEP. Barking conspiracy-theorist racist loon, but a good speaker. This could be very bad. #eu09

RT @demsoc Newly elected BNP MEP claims Gordon Brown is going to rerun Euro election until he gets the right answer. He’s nuts, isn’t he? #eu09

BNP MEP former National Socialist Movement member, former National Front candidate. Hardcore fascist, in other words. Hurrah. #eu09

RT @demsoc Frankly, BNP MEP sounded just like a UKIP one to me.

RT @pickledpolitics It’s looking like [British Nazi Party leader] Nick Griffin may be elected MEP. Great. Just great. #ep09 #eu09

RT @jonnelledge Labour down 12% in Wales. Beaten by the Tories. In Wales. You know, the place with the unions and miners and stuff. Christ

RT @demsoc Polish far-right party, Samoobrona/Self-Defence, loses all 6 of its MEPs as vote collapses. [See – it’s not all bad…] #eu09

I’m not a violent man, but I’d happily stomp Nick Griffin’s face into a bloody pulp.

RT @JamieSport If racism is vitriol directed at people who look like Griffin, then I’m a massive racist.

Christ. It’s starting to sink in. The last five years of Kilroy and UKIP stupidity was fun. But the BNP in the EP? It’s just not funny.

@dnotice The BNP won’t be in any group – the far-right Identity, Sovereignty, Tradition group collapsed thanks to them all hating foreigners.

RT @CaffeinatedDave: BNP gets it’s first seat, due to 2.5 million people doing nothing #yorkshireshame #eu09

I’ve decided to personally blame Hazel Blears for the BNP picking up a seat. Undermined Labour confidence at the last minute and gifted it.

RT @JamieSport Hey Yorkshire! Here’s your new Nazi arsonist swastika wearing MEP: http://bit.ly/TZluO

RT @jockso I don’t want to keep repeating myself but the BNP vote in Yorkshire fell. Not the rise of fascism, the rise of apathy. #eu09

South East region computer failure preventing the result. Bring on the National Identity Database and NHS IT system, eh? #eu09 #ep09

RT @deanlove: The EU election results are like a horrible mirror of the US elections earlier in the year. It’s all fear instead of hope.

RT @doctorvee PR *doesn’t* let fascist parties in. People voting for fascist parties does! #eu09 #ep09

RT @jonnelledge Nigel Farage says UKIP will put up 500 candidates for the next general election. If anything saves Labour, it’ll be that.

RT @keewa: funny how the BNP preach racial purity when they all look like piggly eyed, saggy jawed troglodytes isn’t it? #eu09

RT @monstris: Apprentice’s Yasmina, of Iranian extraction, [post-facto note: the winner of a reality TV show, announced the same night] is the sort of person the BNP wld expel. How’s that for a socipolitcal mashup?

BNP – 86,420 in London? Christ… *crosses fingers it’s not enough* #eu09 #ep09

190,000 for the Greens – I don’t like the Greens, but that should keep out the fascists. Yay! #ep09 #eu09

London: Tory, Labour, Lib Dem, Green, UKIP, Labour, Tory, Tory – no seat for @jonathanfryer again. Damn – but UKIP pushed to 4th. Yay! #eu09

RT @johnhalton: The big plus for Gordon Brown: total lack of any real breakthrough for Tories so far (Wales notwithstanding). #eu09

RT @markclapham RT @jamesmoran: If you choose not to vote, then you’re just as bad as the BNP voters. But you don’t get to complain.

RT @MakeVotesCount Turnout in London is 33.3% – only 4% down since last time. Not bad considering no local elections in London on Thu.

East Midlands: Tory, Labour, UKIP, Tory, Lib Dem – UKIP lose a seat to the Lib Dems. Ha! Probably lack of Kilroy this time. Labour only -4%

RT @jonnelledge So far UKwide Tories +1%, Labour -7%, LibDems and UKIP -1% each. Not a big swing to the right, it’s just Labour imploding.

RT @doktorb: Reports from Manchester count – NW result imminent – BNP 1, UKIP 1, LD 1, Con 3, Lab 2 most likely #eu09

BNP’s rise not surprising (if worrying): Nationalism, racism and xenophobia always rise in recessions. Labour collapse amplifying the effect

UKIP support in Cornwall dropping. About time. Cornwall’s entire economy relies on EU funding… #eu09 #ep09

Hmmm… Socialists up in Czech Republic. Not much of a boost for the Tories’ potential Czech allies, from what I can tell. #eu09 #ep09

South West England: The Libertas FAIL continues apace. They’re not even beating individual independents… #eu09 #ep09

South West: Tory, UKIP, Lib Dem, Tory, UKIP, Tory – no Labour MEPs at all for the South West. #ep09 #eu09

Tory and UKIP vote share both -1% – Labour down 7%; Hardly a ringing endorsement of the Conservative Party, is it? #eu09 #ep09

Nice – South East BNP vote read out to shout of “Fascists! Fucking fascists!” Over 100,000 voted BNP, though hopefully not enough…

South East England: Tory, UKIP, Tory, Lib Dem, Green, Tory, UKIP, Tory, Labour, Lib Dem

Good result for the EU there – Marta Andreassen was No.2 on the UKP list: http://bit.ly/jTgvp #eu09 #ep09

RT @demsoc Labour frozen out in South West, in 5th place behind Greens. UKIP get 2 – lots of ungrateful farmers… #eu09 #ep09

Nigel Farrage still complaining about his supporters being too stupid to read a ballot paper… #eu09 #ep09

He he! RT @JamieSport RT @cathelliott I do not like green eggs and ham: I do not like that Hannan man #Icandodrseusstoo #eu09

I meant what I said and I said what I meant – BNP voters can go and get bent #Icandodrseusstoo

Nice – Dimbleby finally asks Tory arch anti-EU type Hannan the question I’ve been pondering for ages: “Why don’t you join UKIP?” #eu09

Ah – the BBC have finally remembered that they have a Europe Editor waiting around in the European Parliament giving continent-wide analysis

RT @pickledpolitics The tweedledum and tweedledee of Europe – Nigel Farage and Dan Hannan! hah! gotta love Dimbleby

RT @JamieSport Terribly friendly are Hannan and Farige; it can’t be that long til we hear of their marriage #icandodrseusstoo

West Midlands: BNP 121,967 – That’s now well over half a million BNP voters UK-wide. Still, 2.4m Muslims – who’d win in a fight? #eu09

West Midlands: Tory, UKIP, Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP – UKIP gain from Labour

North West England: BNP Leader Nick Griffin looks to be in with 132,094. Close, though…

Looks like about 200 more votes for UKIP would have been enough to keep the BNP out…

West Midlands: Tory, Labour, UKIP, Lib Dem, Tory, Labour, Tory, BNP

Make that 1,200 more votes for UKP to keep out the BNP, or 5,00 more for the Greens. But the BNP’s total votes actually went down. #eu09

I hope the 25,999 who voted Socialist Labour and the 23,580 who voted No2EU are pleased with themselves – they could have stopped Griffin.

Nick Griffin blaming Labour, “an out of touch political elite”, “unelected bureaucrats” and claiming electoral fraud. #eu09 #ep09

Griffin’s speech so far could have been delivered by someone from UKIP… #eu09 #ep09

Griffin: “We have no problem with people who are here legally and are contributing”? You could have fooled me… #ep09 #eu09

Wow… BBC News channel have one of their camp entertainment reporters fronting the rest of their elections coverage… #eu09 #ep09

With that, it’s probably time to go to bed. Proper analysis after some sleep before spouting off on BBC World News again in the evening.

RT @warrenellis The UK has elected in record low turnout a neofascist Shoah-denier & an actual no-hyperbole neo-Nazi to the Euro Parliament