Europeans go to polls on the final day of voting for EU elections

Brussels: Voters across the European Union are going to the polls on the final day of voting for the European parliamentary elections to choose their representatives for the next five-year term.
Polls opened in 20 EU countries early Sunday for the June 6-9 elections for a new European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member bloc.
Millions of Europeans have been casting their ballots this week in one of the world’s biggest democratic elections. Far-right parties are looking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers’ discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are also key topics weighing on the minds of voters.
The economy, jobs, poverty and social exclusion, public health, climate change and the future of Europe are also prominent issues.
Official results are not expected before the last polling stations in all 27 EU nations close late Sunday.
Currently:
— An assault on the Danish prime minister is the latest in a recent surge in political violence in Europe
— Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tells the EU’s traditional center parties their time is up
— What’s at stake: AP’s explainer on how it works and the main issues
— Overwhelmed by the elections? A guide to the key races to watch
Here’s the latest:
A WIDESPREAD YAWN’ IN SPAIN, WHERE TURNOUT APPEARS LOW
MADRID — María Del Mar Mira, a civil servant and historian in the central Letras neighbourhood of Madrid, expressed disappointment at not seeing the queues that normally form for national elections at her polling station in central Madrid. She said voters don’t understand the importance of decisions taken in the European Parliament.
“We should take this more seriously, because there are a lot of important things coming from there and the truth is it that we are taking a direction that reminds me of past and undesirable times,” Mira said.
Some 38 million Spaniards are eligible to vote Sunday to elect 61 members of the 720-seat European Parliament, with the conservative opposition and the ruling Socialists expected to get the most seats.
Antonio García Escolar, a producer and screenwriter from Madrid, also remarked on low interest in the vote, something he blamed on misinformation. “We have fallen into a widespread yawn,” he said. “We are asleep, because we prefer reading a headline or what a YouTuber tells us and we don’t seek truthful information.”
García Escolar did not disclose who he voted for but said his vote was “against fascism.”
“Fascism is not something that one learns in school, it is something that is dormant and that is inside all of us, that only awakens when fear is stirred,” he said.
Ana Cabanas, a lawyer from Madrid, said the economy and the agricultural policies that are decided in Brussels were some of the main topics that drove her to vote.
“I still believe in Europe and I want to have a say in matters that affect Spanish legislation and that are decided in Europe,” Cabanas said.
FRENCH VOTERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT MIGRATION AND WARS IN UKRAINE AND THE MIDDLE EAST
PARIS — Migration has been one of the most important issues to French voters, and the party of far-right leader Marine Le Pen is hoping for a strong showing against the centrist party of President Emmanuel Macron.
Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege and the current president of the far-right National Rally, gave strong performances in debates ahead of this weekend’s election, something that could help Le Pen as she is expected to run for the French presidency in 2027.
Bardella has fiercely opposed the EU Asylum and Migration Pact, a plan backed by Macron that seeks to harmonise the management of irregular migrant arrivals among EU nations.
French voters are also focused on the war in Ukraine and Gaza.
“Today, in the context of a war in Ukraine and the Middle East, there’s a different dimension than the national one,” said Francois Tivolle, who cast his ballot in Paris’ 11th district.
GERMANY’S UNPOPULAR COALITION FACES ITS FIRST NATIONWIDE TEST SINCE TAKING OFFICE IN 2021
BERLIN — The European Parliament election gives political parties in Germany their first nationwide test since centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government took office at the end of 2021.
Pre-election surveys suggested that the mainstream conservative opposition, the Union bloc, can expect to remain Germany’s strongest force in the EU legislature. They predict weak results for the three parties in Scholz’s quarrelsome governing coalition, which has become very unpopular.
The far-right Alternative for Germany can expect gains compared with the 11 per cent of the vote it won in 2019, but its performance may be hampered by a string of setbacks in recent months, including scandals surrounding its two lead candidates for the European Parliament.
Germany elects 96 of the 720 lawmakers who will make up Europe’s new Parliament, the biggest single share.
Voter Laura Simon said in Berlin: “I do hope that we will manage to avoid a shift to the right and that Europe will somehow remain united.”
HUNGARY’S PRIME MINISTER FACES FIRST ELECTORAL TEST SINCE NEW RIVAL APPEARS
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Many Hungarian view the election as a referendum on the popularity of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose illiberal policies and his support for Russia have pushed him to the margins of the European Union.
While Fidesz has dominated Hungarian politics since 2010, many Hungarians are deeply dissatisfied with the direction the country is going, and hope to deal a blow to Orbán by supporting one of the most formidable challengers he’s ever faced.
Péter Magyar, a 43-year-old lawyer and former insider within Orbán’s party, has built up Hungary’s strongest opposition party in a matter of months and hopes to use a good showing in Sunday’s elections to propel himself and his movement toward defeating the prime minister in the next national ballot scheduled for 2026.
Orbán’s governing Fidesz party is expected to win the largest share of the vote after campaigning heavily on fears that the war in neighbouring Ukraine could escalate to involve Hungary directly.
Hungary is set to take over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency next month.
AP