Biggest EU poll gets under way

[dplax]

Source: BBC

People in Britain and the Netherlands have begun voting in elections for representatives to the EU parliament.
Twenty-five EU member states will take part in the world's biggest trans-national polls over the next four days, with results due on Sunday.

The war in Iraq and the degree of European control over local affairs look set to dominate the polls.

But there are fears that up to half the 350 million-odd people eligible to vote will ignore the exercise.

The EU extended its frontiers to include 10 new members on 1 May this year.

In the UK, the elections are likely to be the last test of public opinion before general elections are held next year.

Elections are also taking place in 166 local English and Welsh councils, as well as for London's mayor and assembly.

Millions of people across Northern England and the East Midlands have already cast their vote in the biggest all-postal ballot ever attempted in the UK.

As a result, European election turnout is already higher in many areas than in 1999.

But the final days of campaigning were marred in some areas by accusations of fraud and voter intimidation, which are being investigated by the police and the Electoral Commission.

Democratic counterweight

Ireland will vote on Friday, Latvia and Malta vote on Saturday, and the other countries vote on Sunday.

The Czech Republic has two days of voting on the Friday and the Saturday, and Italy votes on Saturday and Sunday.

No results will be announced until after the last polling station closes on Sunday.

The BBC's Caroline Wyatt, in France, says apathy on Europe is rife.

She says France's governing centre-right fears that voters could use this as a chance to vote against the government on domestic rather than on European issues.

Analysts are suggesting recent world events are also going to have an impact on the elections.

It is hoped that the show of unity over an Iraq resolution at the United Nations on Tuesday will encourage voters.

The European Parliament was designed as a democratic counterweight to the European Commission, whose members are appointed, not elected.

It exercises a measure of control over budget, trade, environment and consumer affairs in the EU.

[shamrock_uk]

That reminds me, time to go and vote!