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Blair suffers stinging backlash
Labour Party set to finish 3rd; Iraq dominates Europe-wide polls.
"LONDON - Dutch opposition parties critical of the Iraq war scored significant gains at the start of elections for the European Parliament, while Prime Minister Tony Blair lost support across Britain in local voting, key tests since the invasion last year.
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Iraq, as well as domestic issues, concerned voters as the 25 nations of the recently expanded European Union began electing legislators -- a four-day process that started Thursday in Britain and the Netherlands.
While Britain's results in the EU vote will not be clear until Sunday, the local vote showed a stinging backlash to Blair, whose popularity has slumped amid lingering doubts about his judgment and truthfulness.
Blair's Labour Party had been expected to suffer losses -- the usual fate of governments between national elections. Instead, the focus was on the size of the loss, which appeared to be significant with results from 83 of the 166 local councils declared.
Third place?
Blair and his ministers acknowledged that the deeply divisive war cast a shadow over campaigning in Britain for local council elections as well as for EU lawmakers.
"There is clearly a strong protest vote, and we have to take account of what people are telling us," Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said as results came in early Friday. "Iraq is certainly a factor."
Labour was down 211 seats; the main opposition Conservative Party had gained 103 seats; and Britain's third largest party, the Liberal Democrats -- which staked its campaign heavily on it being the only major party to oppose the war -- gained 67 seats.
The British Broadcasting Corp. projected that Labour would trail in third place with 26 percent of the total vote, behind the Conservatives with 38 percent and the Liberal Democrats with 30 percent.
"Iraq and the worries over Iraq have been a shadow over our support but in the end you have to take decisions that are right and you have to see them through," Blair told reporters Thursday at a G-8 summit on Sea Island, Ga. before polls in Britain closed.
Ireland and the Czech Republic voted for the European Parliament on Friday but most of the 25 EU nations are waiting until Sunday..."