Far-right gains in European elections as voting continues

The European Union’s parliamentary elections, the world’s largest voting exercise after India’s, continued on Friday with Ireland and the Czech Republic casting their ballots for 35 seats in the European Parliament. The Netherlands had already kicked off the four-day ballot with an anti-Islam party in a tight race with leftist parties.

In Ireland, polls opened early as the country started elections for 14 members of the European Parliament. Longtime figureheads of the EU’s Left group, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, faced a tough battle for reelection. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic began its two-day election in the afternoon, electing 21 European legislators.

Opinion polls suggest that far-right and right-wing parties may make gains in the European Parliament, potentially becoming the dominant force. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islam Party for Freedom (PVV) was in a close race with a center-left alliance led by Frans Timmermans, a former EU climate commissioner.

The final NOS Ipsos exit poll indicated that the PVV could win seven seats, up from just one in the last Parliament. The center-left alliance was projected to win eight of the 31 European Parliament seats up for grabs in the Netherlands.

Analysts noted a shift in sentiments in the EU, with concerns over the need for a more powerful EU outweighing once-pro-EU sentiments in founding nations like the Netherlands. Issues such as migration, climate change, and the war in Ukraine have dominated the political agenda in Europe.

With nearly 400 million eligible voters, the EU elections are expected to have a significant impact on the future of the European Union, especially as the continent grapples with the ongoing war in Ukraine and the potential for Ukraine to join the EU in the future.