Hollande's Socialist Party finished a distant third in Sunday's voting. He summoned a special meeting Monday morning to address the results, which Prime Minister Manuel Valls called an "earthquake."
Valls pledged Monday to stick with tax and spending cuts that he argues will ease the pain for voters who rejected the governing party out of frustration with unemployment and economic difficulty.
The National Front led sweeping gains for far right and Euroskeptic parties in the European Parliament elections Sunday. Many voters, however, cast ballots for domestic reasons, to express disappointment in mainstream national parties.
--------------------BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe's voters have spoken, and the result "is a shock, an earthquake," France's prime minister said. Official but still partial returns from the 28-nation European Parliament elections show an unprecedented surge by Euroskeptics and outright anti-EU politicians.
By winning a larger share of seats in the European Parliament, more of Europe's outsiders also have a platform and visible position to influence politics in their home countries.
"European politics will be different from today on," said Doru Frantescu, policy director and co-founder of VoteWatch Europe, an independent Brussels-based organization that tracked opinion polls in the run-up to the elections that finished Sunday.
Mainstream parties may hang on to more than 70 percent of the seats in the 751-member parliament, Frantescu said as returns were still being tallied. When the transnational legislature's two biggest blocs — the conservatives and Socialists — concur, they still should get their way.
But when they don't, foes of the EU as it now exists will have more votes and access to the parliament's internal machinery to demand that their views be considered. Frantescu predicted the trade bloc, now present in many areas of Europeans' lives, will also interpret the election outcome as meaning it must refocus its efforts to stimulate Europe's sluggish economy and reduce joblessness.
"The signal sent by the electorate is that clearly it wants the European Union to be more effective, it wants it to deliver more results to the citizens, it wants it to solve economic issues and unemployment," Frantescu said. "These are the reasons for which people have turned toward the far left, toward the far right, toward Euroskeptics in general."
In a statement issued early Monday, Jose Manual Barroso, president of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, appeared to agree.
"This is the moment to come together and to define the union's way forward," Barroso said in commenting on the election's results. "The concerns of those who voted in protest or did not vote are best addressed through decisive political action for growth and jobs, and through a truly democratic debate."
Dutch politician Geert Wilders and his anti-EU and anti-immigrant Party for Freedom were not among the big election winners. But before polls opened, Wilders said one effect of a jump in voter support for skeptics and parties hostile to the EU had been woefully underestimated: the fallout it would have on European national politics. "What would (Prime Minister David) Cameron in the United Kingdom do if (anti-EU politician Nigel) Farage would get one out of three votes? He would change his policies," Wilders told reporters.
In France, the anti-EU National Front of Marine Le Pen got one in four votes, the best showing by any of the country's parties, incomplete but official returns showed Sunday.
Socialist Prime Minister Manual Valls went on television to say the verdict of voters showed it was important for his government to push through the spending cuts and tax cuts it has been promising. "There is not a single minute to lose," Valls said. "I owe you the truth," he told the French. "We need to show courage because France must reform. For too long, left and right together, we have avoided deeply addressing things."
Independent observers like Janis Emmanouilidis, director of studies at the European Policy Center think tank, have predicted one undeniable fact will blunt the impact of the anti-EU surge: the sheer variety of groups that will be represented in the parliament that divides its time between Brussels and Strasbourg in France.
They include left and right, parties that want the EU reformed and others that want it abolished, respectable figures from academia and others from groups accused of being racists or neo-Nazis.
The Sweden Democrats, an extreme-right and nationalist party, won two seats in the European Parliament, and leader Jimmie Akesson said its critical stance toward the EU helped it attract votes. "I think it is good that criticism toward the EU is growing all over Europe," he said. But he wouldn't comment on whether he will cooperate with France's National Front. "It is one of the parties we are trying to gain an understanding of," he said.
In Poland, marginal anti-EU politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke was elected to the parliament after declaring that it corrupts politicians and should be turned into a brothel.
UPDATE:
A recount has been requested for the Dublin European Parliament constituency following the seventh count.
It had appeared Independent Nessa Childers and Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes had taken the two remaining seats following the earlier election of Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin.
However, Eamon Ryan of the Green Party has requested a recount.
Entering the divisive seventh count Mr Hayes held a slender lead of 904 votes over Ms Childers, with Mr Ryan a further 504 behind.
The seventh count involved the division of Ms Boylan’s surplus of 1,620 votes following the elimination of Fianna Fáil’s Mary Fitzpatrick.
Following the seventh count, Mr Ryan was 1,149 votes behind Mr Hayes, who in turn was 193 votes behind Ms Childers.
The count has been adjourned until 2pm.
Earlier Lynn Boylan of Sinn Féin was the runaway leader, securing 83,264 first preference votes, sufficient to secure election after the third count.
Ms Boylan secured 23.6% of total first preference votes, ahead of Mr Hayes on 15.5% and Ms Fitzpatrick on 12.6%.
Ireland South constituency count was suspended at 11pm without reaching a first count, with counting to resume at 9am today.
Counting in the Midlands North West constituency has been adjourned until 9am and it is expected that the first count results will not be announced until this afternoon.
The first candidate will likely be elected tonight. At this stage, it is anticipated that the count will continue until Tuesday.
Combined tally figures for the Midlands North West constituency suggest that Independent Luke Ming Flanagan could top the poll at 18.6% in the European election.
The next closest candidate, in terms of rough tally percentages, is Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy who is estimated to take 18.2% of first preferences.
These figures, however, were collected when votes were sorted at other count centres throughout the euro constituency yesterday.
Therefore, they come with a serious health warning as there is no complete tally at the Castlebar count centre today.
In terms of these figures, Fine Gael's Mairead McGuinness is suggested to be in third place in the tallies with 14.8%.
Ms McGuinness is followed by Independent Marian Harkin at 10.7%, and Fianna Fáil candidates Pat the Cope Gallagher and Thomas Byrne are at 8.9% and 8.5% respectively.
However, it is estimated from a sample of 40,000 votes at the count in Castlebar that the elimination of Fine Gael's Jim Higgins could benefit Mairead McGuinness, Marian Harkin, and Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher.
If Labour's Lorraine Higgins is eliminated, her votes could mainly feed through to Marian Harkin.
The elimination of Ronan Mullen, some political pundits and party activist say, could go Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher's way.
However, some of these votes could also go to Ms Harkin.
Before these eliminations can happen the breakdown of transfers from lesser candidates could be crucial in terms of who is in the shake up for the last seat.
Tallymen are predicting a tiny percentage of votes from smaller independent candidates could impact who wins the final seat in the Midlands-North West constituency.
They say votes from T.J Fay; Mark Fitzsimmons; Fis Nua's Cordelia NicFhearraigh; the Green Party's Mark Deary and Direct Democracy Ireland's Ben Gallagher could amount to four or five percent.
Tallymen agree on one thing though, the battle for the last seat in the Midlands North West constituency will be a "dogfight".
That dogfight may possibly be between Marian Harkin and Pat the Cope Gallaghe
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