The European Parliament elections kicked off on Thursday as polling stations opened in the Netherlands, the first of the European Union’s 27 member states to participate.
A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be elected, with 31 seats designated for the Netherlands. The election process will run until the following Monday, with most other member states holding their elections on Sunday. Polling stations will be open from 7:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) until 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT), except for a few special polling stations that may open earlier.
This marks the 10th time that EU member countries are voting for their MEPs, with the inaugural elections taking place in 1979. Key concerns for voters include migration, defense and international security, combating crime and terrorism, and addressing climate change, among other issues.
In the previous elections in 2019, the PvdA (Labor Party) secured six out of the 26 Dutch seats in the European Parliament, surpassing the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democratic Appeal, both of which obtained four seats.
Leading in the current polls is the far-right Party for Freedom, which emerged victorious in the general elections in the Netherlands last November, making history as the largest party in the country and poised to establish a new government alongside coalition partners. The initial results of the elections are anticipated shortly after the closure of polling stations at night.
According to the European Commission, the election outcomes should not be disclosed until all EU member states have completed their elections by Monday, in order to avoid influencing the elections in other countries.
The official final results are determined by the Electoral Council in an open session approximately one week after the elections.
The turnout for the elections is traditionally low in the Netherlands, at about 40 percent of all eligible voters, about half of the regular turnout percentage in House of Representatives elections.