The votes have been cast in this year’s European Elections – that took place on Thursday, May 23.
The counting has had to wait until today, Sunday, May 26, because many of the European countries taking part have been voting today.
The result was announced around 10.30pm.
The returning officer first informed the agents at the count, which took place at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, and then informed Southampton. The information was then verified and then the declaration will be announced.
Wokingham borough voted to remain in the European referendum. Will they do so again?
The turn out was 41.7% – 50,982 ballot papers were issued with 50,978 verified including postal votes. The electorate in Wokingham borough is 122,167.
South East overall result
Brexit Party gets four seats
Lib Dems get three
Green one
Conservative one
Labour one
Analysis: It can be argued that the Brexit Party’s four seats have all come from UKIP – they lost four seats. The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats, while the Conservatives have lost two.
The Greens and Labour have held steady in the number of seats – but the Green’s share of the vote has gone up by almost 4.5%, seeing them leap to third place, an improvement on their 2014 result.
The Conservatives have slipped to fourth place, seeing the share of their vote go down from 31% to 10% – a drop of 21%.
Labour have also lost share, but not as much. In 2015, they polled 15%, while this time round it is 7%.
UKIP are the biggest losers of the night. Their share of the vote went down from 32% to 2% and seen them lose all their seats.
The Liberal Democrats will be delighted with two extra seats after seeing their share of the vote increase by 18% – from 8% to 26%.
But of course the party celebrating the hardest tonight will be The Brexit Party. Leader Nigel Farage topped the South East list and was the first MEP elected.
South East MEP
Brexit Party
Nigel Farage; Alexandra Phillips; Robert Rowland; and Belinda De Camborne Lucy
Liberal Democrats
Catherine Bearder; Antony Hook; Judith Bunting
Green Party
Alexandra Phillips
Conservatives
Daniel Hannan
Labour
John Howarth
