EU elections

Low turnout could mar EU elections

Article published on the 2009-06-07 Latest update 2009-06-07 15:46 TU

Elio Di Rupo, chairman of Belgium's French-speaking Socialist party (PS), casts his vote
(Credit: Reuters)

Voting in the European Union elections started on Sunday across the bulk of the bloc amid fears that turnout could be the lowest ever. Nineteen of the 27 countries are going to the polls including France, Germany, Spain and, for the second day, Italy where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the only national leader heading his party's list for the 736-seat European Parliament.

Eight countries, including Britain, have already voted. The results will not be released until Sunday evening when voting across Europe has ended.

The Netherlands, however, is facing a European Commission investigation after partial results were published on Thursday.

There are concerns, however, that voter apathy will be reflected in one of the lowest turnouts ever. In Slovakia, the turnout was just an estimated 14 per cent on Saturday, three percentage points lower than in 2004 when it recorded the lowest ever in the EU.

The lower turnout has already made an impact in some countries, including Slovakia, where a state news agency reports that an ultra-nationalist party, SNS, picked up a seat.

In Britain EU elections coincide with local council elections, and a tough time for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"We fought a hard campaign, but given the current political climate, things have gone in our favour," said Tracy Dighton-Brown, Green Party Communications Director in London. She told RFI that the Green party could have captured eight per cent of the vote, if based on certain exit polls.

Dighton-Brown said that low turnout could help the smaller parties, which could be worrisome. "It's been a great concern to the Green party yhat it's possible the (extreme right-wing) BNP party might gain a seat," she added.

At the other end of the scale, turnout is expected to hit 80 per cent in Malta.