(CNN) The results of the European elections revealed some unexpected outcomes Monday as the full picture from the world's biggest multi-country vote became clearer.

Over four days last week voters across 28 countries delivered the highest turnout in a European election for 20 years as they selected new representatives to sit in the European Parliament.

Here are some of the key takeaways from some of the provisional results so far:

Traditional centrist parties took a drubbing, with the so-called Grand Coalition -- which consists of the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc and the center-right European People's Party (EPP) -- losing more than 70 seats and its majority in the EU parliament. One of the key figures in the S&D is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, while German chancellor Angela Merkel is part of the EPP. In contrast, liberal-centrist grouping the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE&R), which includes French President Emmanuel Macron, picked up 32 seats and will now play an important role in nominating officials for key EU positions.

In the UK, the Brexit Party, led by arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage, took home 31.71% of the vote. This is almost equivalent to the vote share of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats combined and reflects growing dissatisfaction with traditional UK parties. It's worth noting that the Brexit Party took most of its seats from the UK Independence Party, Farage's previous political vehicle.

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