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BUSY WITH FOOTBALL: LOW TURNOUT FOR EU SUPERVOTE Sun Jun 13 2004 03:23:39 ET Voting started Sunday on the fourth and final day of European Union-wide ballots to elect a new EU Parliament, in an election clouded by both widespread apathy and signs of a surge in support for eurosceptic parties. Nineteen of the European Union's 25 member states were going to the polls in the biggest transnational elections ever held anywhere, and the first for the EU since the bloc's expansion into the former communust east of Europe on May 1 this year. EU leaders have pulled out all the stops to persuade people to vote to choose 732 members of parliament, the EU's only directly-elected body, underlining its fast-growing powers within the expanding bloc. But another Euro-contest -- the football tournament in Portugal -- appears to be gripping more people than the polls, and election coverage Sunday evening faced stiff competition from a keenly awaited match between Britain and France. "I'm very worried that a low turnout everywhere could produce very strange results and even result in anti-European organisations being elected," EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen said on the eve of voting. Joining seasoned politicians in the race for a seat in the European assembly, which sits in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, were a quirky collection of candidates ranging from athletes to television personalities, even an astronaut and a porn star. Seven countries already voted over the first three days of polling: Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, the Czech Republic and Ireland from Friday and Italy, Latvia and Malta Saturday. Italy was voting for a second day on Sunday. Results are set to be published after the last ballots close Sunday evening at 2000 GMT. The polls are widely expected to leave the centre right in charge of the EU assembly, with Social Democrats in second place. But many eyes are on the fate of a number of high-profile eurosceptic parties, some of whose leaders claim that they could hold the balance of power in the EU assembly if they joined forces. These include the UK Independence Party, which has thrown a spanner into the British election works by threatening to eat into opposition conservatives' support while giving Prime Minister Tony Blair a serious headache, notably over a first-ever EU constitution the bloc hopes to agree at a summit from Thursday. Other countries with strong anti-EU forces include heavyweight EU newcomer Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, while other far-righters like France's Jean-Marie Le Pen, Austria's Joerg Haider and the Vlaams Blok in Belgium also campaign strongly for national interests to take precedence over EU concerns. Czech exit polls suggested good news for eurosceptics: the Civic Democrats (ODS) could be heading for 31 percent of the vote, pushing Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's ruling party into third place, behind the communists. Turnout is also being watched closely in the polls: recent forecasts have suggested it could dip below the EU-wide figure 49.8 percent registered at the last ballots in 1999, although the most recent figures suggest it could just scrape back above the psychologically important 50 percent mark. Concern focusses in particular on the 10 mostly ex-communist newcomers, where just 40 percent of voters are expected to cast their ballots. Campaign themes in the polls varied widely from country to country, with local issues often dominating as opposed to European-level policy debate. Many see the polls as mid-term tests for national elections. |
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