After UK and the Dutch. . . - 05/06/2009

Irish and Czechs vote today

Voting is in full swing in Europe, with all eyes focused on Ireland and the Czech Republic as they head to the polls today on the heels of Britain and the Netherlands, who yesterday led the ballot for the 27-member bloc.

Ireland's three million eligible voters will elect 12 members to the European Parliament, while in the Czech Republic - which will hand over the rotating presidency of the European Union to Sweden on July 1 - eight million voters will choose 24 MEPs. The two countries were this year the last remaining thorns in the side of the Lisbon Treaty. Tomorrow ballots will be cast by residents of Cyprus, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia. This is ahead of "Super Sunday", when the remaining 19 member states - including France, Germany, Italy and Spain - will round off the voting. A total of 736 members will be elected to the European Parliament, slimmed down from the current 785 seats.

More than 375 million people are eligible to cast a ballot in these elections, but turnout has slid with each European election since the first in 1979. Some polls have indicated the average this week will be lower than the 45.6 per cent turnout of 2004.

Results from all member states are to be released on Sunday evening, with the full tally expected to be known by Wednesday.

But provisional results - which break rules banning their release before polls close across Europe on Sunday night - are unsurprising. Exit polls today showed the far right in Holland - which is electing 25 MEPs to the European Parliament - has made massive gains. The Party for Freedom, led by controversial Geert Wilders, looks to have swept more than 16 per cent of the ballot and four seats in its very first campaign.

Over in Britain - which will elect 72 MEPs to the assembly - opinion polls suggest the embattled governing Labour party may finish third behind fringe Eurosceptic outfit the United Kingdom Independence Party.