By Timothy Heritage
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Exit polls showed a Dutch anti-immigration party made gains on Thursday in a European Parliament election that is expected to punish governments struggling to cope with the global economic crisis.
Polls released by the ANP news agency and broadcaster NOS put the right-wing Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders on course to win four of the 25 Dutch seats in the parliament, after having none in the previous assembly.
The three main Dutch parties all lost seats on the first day of voting across the 27-country European Union, the exit polls showed. Voting also took place in Britain but no exit polls were available
If the results are confirmed in the Netherlands, they will alarm EU leaders who fear a low turnout could boost fringe and extremist parties and could further undermine confidence in the bloc's leadership.
More than 375 million people are eligible to take part in the election, which is spread over four days. Most member states vote on Sunday.
Opinion polls pointed to a low turnout and voter apathy, even though the 736-member assembly will have important powers to shape pan-European laws, and predicted gains for extremists at the expense of ruling parties such as Britain's Labour Party.
"I ask all EU citizens: raise your voice and cast your vote," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement issued at EU headquarters in Brussels.
Barroso had hoped to a high turnout would work against right-wing candidates such as Wilders, who campaigned on an anti-EU platform and criticized Turkey's bid to join the EU.
"Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says, it is an Islamic country, so no, not in 10 years, not in a million years," Wilders said.
Despite the Netherlands' history of tolerance, some Dutch have turned inward because of concerns about Muslim immigration, the growing level of influence in liberal Dutch laws from Brussels and taxpayer money being contributed to the EU budget.
Dutch voters also rejected a draft constitution for Europe four years ago.
MORE FRAGMENTED PARLIAMENT
Despite Wilders' predicted success, an opinion poll showed the center-right European People's Party was likely to remain the largest group in the European parliament with 262 seats -- just over one third of places.
It put the Socialist group in second place on 194 seats, or just over one quarter.
The Predict09.eu survey suggested the assembly would be more fragmented than now, with smaller parties taking more seats, but it indicated this would be no threat to mainstream parties as they work on major laws such as shaking up financial regulation.
The parliament is one of the three main EU institutions, with the executive Commission and the Council of EU leaders.
It passes and shapes many EU laws, is a democratic watchdog over the other institutions and passes the EU budget. Its power will increase under planned reforms.
Although a defeat in this election cannot directly force out national governments, it could increase pressure for change.
Many voters are alarmed by high unemployment -- 9.2 percent in the 16 countries sharing the euro currency -- and joint European efforts to tackle joblessness have had limited success. Some EU leaders fear rising poverty could trigger social crisis.
For British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who also faced local elections on Thursday, the election is a test of his leadership. A bad performance by Labour would increase pressure on him to quit following a scandal over parliamentary expenses.
German leaders will be watching the mood before a national election in September and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling conservatives could lose votes to the far-right.
In Ireland, the governing Fianna Fail party is expected to suffer a setback but it is not clear how well the Libertas party which opposes the EU's Lisbon reform treaty, which is intended to streamline decision-making, will fare.
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