(VOVWORLD) - Voters went to the polls in the Netherlands on Thursday to vote in the European Union parliamentary elections that will span four days across the 27 European Union members.
 Geert Wilders, who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) (Photo: AP) |
The Netherlands is the first EU country to vote in the election. Most other EU countries will vote on Sunday, including Germany and France. 370 million voters in the 27 EU countries will vote to select 720 members of the European Parliament for the next 5-year term (2024-2029).
Pre-election polls showed that security, defense, immigration, jobs, public health, the conflict in Ukraine, economic stagnation, and climate change are the main issues concerning EU voters.
“We’re not expecting big changes when it comes to who is going to govern at the European Parliament, but in any case we will see a shift to the right. There are some interesting scenarios that could come up that would decide the winning party. We expect it to be the European People's Party, and it will be more difficult to govern than in the past 5 years. I think there will be a shift to right. The question is how big,” Maria Demertzis, an expert with Bruegel, a research institute based in Brussels, said.
Polls in EU countries indicate that the right could win about 25% of the 720 seats in the European Parliament, enough to influence EU policies on climate change, immigration, Ukraine, and artificial intelligence.