EU Parliament election could upend politics across Europe

FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2019 file photo, a phone box displays a billboard showing Hungarian-American financier George Soros and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker above the caption "You have a right to know what Brussels is preparing to do!", in Budapest, Hungary. Battle lines are drawn between anti-EU populist forces and traditional parties at the beginning of a three-month election campaign that could turn into a tipping point in postwar European history. The May 2019 EU elections has already produced unprecedented abrasive campaigning. (AP Photo/Pablo Gorondi, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2019 file photo, a protestor holds a placard which reads, 'Thanks to Orban we are migrants too', during a demonstration outside EU headquarters in Brussels. Battle lines are drawn between anti-EU populist forces and traditional parties at the beginning of a three-month election campaign that could turn into a tipping point in postwar European history. The May 2019 EU elections has already produced unprecedented abrasive campaigning. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

BRUSSELS – Across the European Union, a three-month campaign has begun ahead of May's election for the European Parliament, a massive exercise in democracy that spans 27 nations and close to half a billion people.

This year could be a tipping point in post-war European politics. Some traditional political powerhouses might start to crumble and extremist, populist parties might gain more clout to throw a wrench into the EU's political machinery.

The next parliament will have 705 seats, since Britain is due to leave the bloc in March and won't be taking part in the May 23-26 vote.

The parliament predicts the center-right Christian Democrat EPP group will remain the largest party ahead of the center-left Socialist S&D. But the EPP is torn by internal strife, which also symbolizes the political battle of the continent.

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