An anticipated sweep by far-right parties across Europe was halted during the European Elections following an upsurge in support for the Greens.
Despite the rise in nationalist and populist sentiment across the continent, environmentalist groups made significant gains in many countries, including Germany, France, Ireland and the UK.
Perhaps sensing that the 28-nation European Union (EU) was at a historic tipping point voters went to the ballot boxes in force, with the turnout of 50.95% the highest in 20 years.
Read more: European elections 2019 live results in Scotland
In Germany, the green party, Die Grünen, beat the social democrats to take second place and 20 percent of the vote. Similarly, in Finland, the Greens made history coming in second place.
While Les Verts in France finished third behind President Emmanuel Macron’s party, La République en Marche. Support for Les Ecolos in Belgium also surged, with projections they may come in first in Brussels, the capital of Europe.
In the UK, the Green Party in England and Wales more than doubled their seats from three to seven following their strong pro-Remain message. They beat the governing Conservative party, which has finished in fifth place with less than 10 per cent of the vote.
Exit polls in Ireland have also shown a rise for the Green Party, with early indications that they may take 15 percent of the vote.
The so-called “Green Wave” is believed to be down to young voters coming out to support environmentalist groups, following a number of climate rallies across the continent in recent months.
However in Sweden, home to climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is said to have started the movement, support for the Greens was down. One projected poll shows their share of the vote sloping from 11 to eight percent.
Nevertheless, in Germany 34 percent of 18-34 year-olds turned out to vote Green, while in France an exit poll has shown 22 per cent of the same age group voted for Les Verts.
Read more: European elections 2019: Every Scottish local authority result
However, far-right groups still made significant gains, with Marine Le Pen, of France’s National Rally party, and Matteo Salvini, head of the Italian right-wing nationalist League party, both securing large shares of the vote.
In France, Ms Le Pen’s party, formerly the National Front, is predicted to narrowly secure first place with 23.5 per cent of the vote, ahead of President Macron’s centrist group which got 22.4 percent.
While Mr Salvini’s party is predicted to win over 30 percent of the Italian vote, he has turned himself into a figurehead of the nationalist far-right movement in Europe.
He told RAI state television that his League party, Marine Le Pen's National Rally and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party together should control 90 seats and that other populist parties could bring the number to at least 150.
Read more: Boris Johnson under pressure over attacks on Scotland's public spending
The Brexit Party in the UK is currently projected to secure around 31 per cent of the vote, putting it securely in first place.
In Germany the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to get just below 11 percent of the vote, up from 7.1 percent five years ago. However their support is down on their 2017 general election wins.
While in the Netherlands, the Freedom Party of Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has lost all its seats in parliament. Most of his vote appears to have been taken over by another populist party, Forum for Democracy.
Despite making gains, the results have hardly been the watershed anticipated by Europe's far-right populists, who have vowed to dilute the European Union from within in favour of national sovereignty.
In Greece, socialist Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, has called a snap national election following a severe defeat by the opposition conservatives.
Read more: Scotland's longest serving MEP, David Martin, loses seat after Labour collapse
Provisional results indicated his ruling party, Syriza, will finish behind the opposition New Democracy party by about ten points.
Pro-EU parties are still expected to win about two-thirds of the legislature's seats, according to the projections released by the parliament and based on the results rolling in overnight Sunday.
Negotiations will start on Monday between groups in the parliament that sits in Brussels and Strasbourg to find a coalition with a workable majority.
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