Italians are electing national representatives in the European Parliament today and tomorrow. Italy has 76 MEPs. Voting starts at 2pm today and ends at 10pm
Tomorrow, on the second day of voting, it starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00 p.m. Italy is the last of the EU member states to announce the results of the Euro vote. This will be monitored by several specially designated press centers at the various party headquarters, at the Ministry of the Interior, which organizes the electoral process in Italy, and at the representations of the European institutions in Rome.
For the Euro vote, Italy is divided into five constituencies. Each of them broadcasts a certain number of deputies and votes with different color ballots.
The electoral threshold that parties that have registered ballots must overcome is 4 percent. There is also preferential voting in Italy.
In the two weeks before the elections in Italy it was forbidden to publish opinion polls. The vote is seen as a referendum on right-wing rule in Italy and on the strength of the left-wing opposition. The campaign was mainly conducted through the media and social networks. There were no posters and billboards for the Euro vote on the central streets of Rome. There were digital billboards in a number of places at the “Termini“ station, and public transport buses were plastered with the faces of leading party candidates.
Among the better-known candidates for MEPs are the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Democratic Party Ellie Schlein, the Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also the leader of the right-wing party “Forza Italia“, the former Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda, General Roberto Vanacci, who created the controversy, raised by the radical right "League", activist Ilaria Salis, tried in Hungary, registered as a leading candidate in the list of the formation "Green Left Union"; in one of the constituencies, former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, nominated by the "United States of Europe" list. Meloni, Tajani and Schlein have already said that if they are elected MEPs, they will give up their mandate.
Separately today and tomorrow, Italians vote in local elections in nearly 3,700 settlements and in regional elections in the Piedmont region. An interesting political development is the fact that for the local elections in key cities such as Florence or Bari and for the regional vote in Piedmont, the right is united, but for the Euro vote the right-wing parties preferred to stand alone. In the previous European Parliament, the three parties in the ruling coalition in Italy – “Italian Brothers“, “Forza Italia“ and “League” - were in three different political families.
Slovakia also voted today in European Parliament elections.
Polling stations open at 07:00 and voting will continue until 22:00 local time.
4,368,697 people have the right to vote (according to data from the second round of this year's presidential elections). To be able to vote in the European elections in Slovakia, you must be 18 years old. Voting is optional. According to Slovak politicians and journalists, interest in the European elections in Slovakia is traditionally low.
In the new composition of the European Parliament (which will be the first to be elected after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union), Slovakia will have 15 representatives.
According to the most recent polls, the first two seats are set to be occupied by the ruling party of Prime Minister Robert Fizo “Direction – social democracy“ and from the main opposition force “Progressive Slovakia”.
The vote in Latvia for the European Parliament today enters its main election day. At 8:00 a.m., 945 polling stations on the territory of the Baltic state open. Sections will work until 8:00 p.m.
Sixteen parties are competing for nine seats, one more than the current European Parliament.
According to the latest polls of the public opinion of the sociological agency SKDS commissioned by the Latvian national television (as of three days ago), the nationalists from the National Union, led by MEP Roberts Zile, lead with 11.9% popularity. The center-right formation leans towards the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament.
The centrist party “New Unity” of EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, which, according to the latest survey, exceeded 9 percent - it is already 9.4. The jump is significant, considering that last month this party was with 8.1.
The social democrats of “Consent”, led by Nils Ushakovs, remain in third place, with 6.8%. The far-right "Latvia First" is already fourth, with 6.2%. “For the development of Latvia” is with 5.5%, and the United List is with 5.3 percent.
According to the “The Journal“ (thejournal.ie) voter turnout in Ireland varied between 29 and 59% in different areas around an hour before the polls closed at 10pm local time. Counting of votes for the local elections will begin on Saturday morning, while the counting of votes for the European Parliament (EP) will begin the following day.
Irish voters will send 14 MPs to the new EP. The local elections will decide who will be the new 949 municipal councilors.