A total of 751 seats were up for grabs in the European Parliament voteBRUSSELS - The tussle for top EU jobs got under way Monday after European Parliament elections delivered a fragmented result, with gains for eurosceptic and green parties as the traditional mainstream groups took a hit. Merkel has said she will back Manfred Weber, the lead candidate of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), which suffered significant losses but remained parliament's biggest bloc with 180 seats. "No lead candidate can claim to have a majority, so that opens the game up," Maillard told AFP. "A man or woman must be found who has enough broad appeal that they can achieve a consensus between these forces." - Domestic repercussions -Across Europe, the various populist, eurosceptic and right-wing parties won more than 150 seats between them, but with differing platforms and priorities, form no coherent parliamentary coalition.

Source: Bangkok Post May 27, 2019 11:03 UTC