BRUSSELS: Voters across the European Union are going to the polls on the final day of voting for the European parliamentary elections to choose their representatives for the next five-year term.
Polls opened in 20 EU countries early on Sunday for the June 6-9 elections for a new European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member bloc.
Millions of Europeans have been casting their ballots this week in one of the world’s biggest democratic elections. Far-right parties are looking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers’ discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are also key topics weighing on the minds of voters.
The economy, jobs, poverty and social exclusion, public health, climate change and the future of Europe are also prominent issues.
Official results are not expected before the last polling stations in all 27 EU nations close late on Sunday.
Some 38 million Spaniards are eligible to vote Sunday to elect 61 members of the 720-seat European Parliament.
The far-right was seen scoring big gains in Germany and Austria in Sunday’s EU election, opinion polls showed, joining the Netherlands in offering the first signs that an expected rightwards shift in the European Parliament is happening.
Germany elects 96 of the 720 lawmakers who will make up Europe’s new Parliament, the biggest single share.