About 370 million voters in the EU are entitled to vote today, for to determine the new 720 MEPs. The European Parliament is expected to announce the first preliminary results of the vote this evening around 8:15 p.m. Bulgarian time, BTA reported.
The results will determine the distribution of powers and will be the basis for the selection of the next presidents of the European institutions. The big stake in today's election is the expected increase in support for the far right. The results will show whether the current majority in the EP will be preserved, or whether the far-right will get an opportunity to become a unified and large-scale political group.
In the run-up to the elections, European institutions detected numerous attempts at disinformation and flooding with misleading information, including from sites imitating established media. According to the EP, the aim was to make citizens hesitate whether to vote and support the EU's main policies on environmental protection, aid to Ukraine and migration.
In the last elections for MEPs in 2019, the voter turnout was 50.66 percent. Compared to the 2014 election, this represented an increase of over eight percent.
The first session of the newly elected EP is scheduled for the days from July 15 to 17 in Strasbourg.
With the election of the MEPs, the process of changing the leadership of the European institutions begins. On June 17, the heads of state and government of the EU countries will meet at a dinner in Brussels to start the negotiations to determine the president of the European Commission. They will continue the talks at a meeting of the European Council on June 27 and 28.
A few days ago, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, insisted that the choice be made by the end of June. A successor will also be sought for Michel's position, who should head the institution until December.
The EP is ready already in the week of the first session in mid-July to vote for presidents of the parliament and the commission. It is possible that the election of the President of the EC will be left for the middle of September, and in October and November the hearings of the proposed new European Commissioners will take place.