BRUSSELS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Friday saw European Parliament elections head into its second day of voting, with the Czech Republic and Ireland going to the polls to elect 21 and 11 members of European Parliament respectively.

In the Czech Republic, top politicians, including President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Andrej Babis were among the first voters.

Zeman voted at a polling station in an elementary school in Luziny neighborhood of Prague. After casting votes with his wife, Zeman called on all citizens to take part in the European elections, citing it as a test of satisfaction with the Czech politics.

The Czech Republic is known as one of the most Eurosceptic nations in the 28-member European Union. Voters turnout was only 18.2 percent in the European parliament election five years ago.

For this year's elections, the polling stations have closed for Friday but will reopen on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004. Citizens aged over 18 can vote, so there are some 8.4 million eligible voters in the country out of a population of 10.5 million.

In this year's election, Czechs will choose 21 MEPs from a record number of 39 parties, movements and their coalitions that nominated more than 840 candidates. The final election results will be released on Sunday only after the voting in all EU members ends.

Polls have closed in Ireland, where 1.27 million people were eligible to vote in more than 6,500 polling stations until 10 p.m. There are three European constituencies in Ireland.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins voted on Friday morning at his local polling station in Dublin with his wife. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar voted at noon at his local polling station in Castleknock.

With British Prime Minister Theresa May saying on Friday that she will quit as leader of the Conservative party on June 7, Varadkar warned the election of a new prime minister in Britain may lead to a new phase in Brexit talks that could be "very dangerous" for Ireland.

Thursday was the first day of this year's European Parliament elections, when Britain and the Netherlands went to the polls, ahead of the other EU members.

Exit polls in the Netherlands suggested a surprise win for pro-EU parties, dealing a blow to populists. Similar polls are by law not allowed to be published in Britain, until after polls closed throughout the EU on Sunday night. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)