- Exit polls in Germany, France and Austria suggest far-right parties are on track for significant gains
- Some 373 million citizens from 27 EU countries are eligible to vote
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden are holding elections on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the European Parliament stated on Sunday that the voter turnout in the European Parliament elections was 51%, according to initial estimates. However, this number might still change as not all EU member states were included. The 2019 European Parliament elections had a voter turnout of 50.66%.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) was set to win European elections in Poland on Sunday, an exit poll showed.
With war raging in Ukraine and a migrant crisis on the Belarus border, Tusk framed the vote in Poland as a choice between a safe future in a country at the heart of the European Union or a more perilous one if the nationalist Law and Justice(PiS) party, known for its conflicts with Brussels, won.
“We have shown that our choices, our efforts, have a much broader dimension than just our national issues, we have shown that we are a beacon of hope for Europe,” he told supporters after the exit poll results were announced.
According to the IPSOS exit poll, KO won 38.2% of votes, ahead of PiS who had 33.9%. KO’s partners in the pro-European coalition government which took power in December, the centre-right Third Way and the Left, got 8.2% and 6.6% respectively. The far-right Confederation party scored 11.9%.
If confirmed, the result would mark the end of a decade-long run of first-place election finishes for PiS.
PiS says Tusk, a former European Council president, is subservient to Poland’s larger neighbour Germany and accuses him of hypocrisy for criticising tough PiS policies towards migrants on the Belarus border while in opposition before implementing similar measures in government.
