THE HAGUE, Netherlands, 6th June, 2024 (WAM) -- Polls opened in the Netherlands on Thursday to kick off four days of voting in European Union parliamentary elections across the 27 member states, Associated Press reported.
Estonians can cast their ballots across six days that started Monday, but the Netherlands is the only EU country to start its single-day vote so early, followed by Ireland on Friday and the rest of the EU nations over the weekend. Europe-wide results will be announced Sunday night after all member states have completed voting.
The EU elections are the world’s second-biggest exercise in democracy behind the election in India, and the stakes are high.
Almost 400 million voters will be electing 720 members of the European Parliament from beyond the Arctic circle to the edges of Africa and Asia. They will have an impact on issues ranging from global climate policies and defence to migration and geopolitical relations with China and the United States.
The number of members elected in each country depends on the size of the population. It ranges from six for Malta, Luxembourg and Cyprus to 96 for Germany. In 2019, Europeans elected 751 lawmakers. Following the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU in 2020, the number of MEPs fell to 705. Some of the 73 seats previously held by British MEPs had been redistributed to other member states.
The lawmakers, known as Members of the European Parliament of MEPs, can vote on a wide range of legislation laws relating to climate, banking rules, agriculture, fisheries, security and justice. They also vote on the EU budget, which is crucial to the implementation of European policies.
After the election, MEPs will elect their president at the first plenary session, from 16th to 19th July. Then, most likely in September, they will nominate the president of the European Commission, following a proposal made by the member states. In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen narrowly won a vote to become the first woman to head the institution.