In the Netherlands, where elections to the European Parliament began on June 6, the far-right Freedom Party of Geert Wilders achieved significant success in this vote. This is indicated by exit poll data, writes UNN with reference to Euronews.
Details
As reported, this political force can count on seven seats in the EU legislature.
The center-left alliance of the Labor Party and the Green Left also performed successfully. They have the opportunity to get eight seats in the European Parliament.
The margin of error in exit polls is plus or minus one place.
Even before the results of the vote were announced, Wilders had already named his party as the biggest winner. The Wilders-led Freedom Party, like many other far-right parties, will seek to limit the powers of Brussels by influencing EU institutions through the European Parliament, the newspaper notes.
"If you want to change the asylum policy, you have to influence the European Union with all its guiding principles, which we are bound by. And if you want to change that, you need to have a strong presence in the European Parliament, and be sure that, if necessary, we can change the European directives to be responsible for our own immigration and asylum policy," Wilders said.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, Dutch voters expressed mixed opinions about both EU policy and Wilders' position, the newspaper writes.
Six months ago, Geert Wilders' Freedom Party, known for its anti-Islamic and anti-migrant rhetoric, won an impressive victory in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. However, as the newspaper notes, there are more and more supporters of populists in many EU countries.
It is reported that the turnout in the Dutch elections was 47%, which is 5% higher than in 2019. In total, the Netherlands has 31 seats in the European Parliament, where 720 deputies sit.
On Friday, June 7, elections to the European Parliament are held in Ireland. Citizens of the country will also elect the mayor of Limerick and members of city and county councils in 31 municipalities.
Only citizens of the country can vote in the European elections in Ireland. And in the local government elections, all those who have lived in Ireland for more than six months.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 22:00. Ireland will send 14 deputies to the European Parliament, which will amount to 2% of the 720-seat chamber. 949 city and county council seats in 31 municipalities are also up for election, and Limerick residents will elect their mayor for the first time.
A record number of far-right candidates are said to be running in local council and European Parliament elections, but it is unclear how many of them will be elected and whether they will join the expected surge of the far-right across Europe.
The parties of the ruling coalition have tried to neutralize the threat by toughening rhetoric and measures against migrants and asylum seekers. The far right has also lost ground somewhat due to the increase in the number of candidates who will share their votes, the newspaper notes.
Also on Friday, elections to the European Parliament began in the Czech Republic, Radio Prague International reports.
All 14,800 polling stations across the Czech Republic will be open for voting in the European Parliament elections on Friday and Saturday. Czechs have a choice of 30 parties and coalitions. The greatest chances for success, as indicated, are the factions represented in the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament. You can only vote for a candidate from a party active in the Czech Republic. You can vote from 14:00 to 22:00 on Friday or on Saturday from 08:00 to 14:00. The results will not be announced until midnight on Sunday.
The activity of Czech voters in the EP elections, as indicated, could be about 30%, traditionally the lowest of all types of elections. This time, Czech citizens have a choice of 674 candidates, but only 21 of them can occupy the seats of European deputies.
Recall
On the day of the vote in the Netherlands, coordinated cyber attacks were carried out on the websites of at least three political parties. The pro-Russian hacker group HackNeT claimed responsibility for this.
Addition
The results of voting in the European elections will be announced after the closure of polling stations in all EU countries. The last day of voting is the ninth of June.