VOTERS IN 21 EU countries will cast their ballots today as the final day of European parliamentary elections gets underway. 

The elections encompass 28 nations with 400 million people eligible to vote. The first official results will be announced at around 10pm Irish time. 

Seven EU member states, including Ireland, have already voted but no official results can be published until the rest of the EU has taken part.

Eurosceptic parties opposed to the European project hope to capture as many as a third of the seats in the 751-member Strasbourg assembly.

The far-right parties of Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini and France’s Marine Le Pen will lead this charge with anti-EU ranks swelled by the Brexit Party led by Nigel Farage.

Meanwhile, France’s President Emmanuel Macron has taken it upon himself to act as figurehead for the centrist and liberal parties hoping to shut the nationalists out of key EU jobs and decision-making.

Britain and the Netherlands were first to vote on Thursday followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic on Friday with Slovakia, Malta and Latvia voting yesterday. 

As counting continues in Ireland’s local election battles, counting will get underway in the European elections. 

Votes will be counted in Cork (for the Ireland South constituency), Castlebar (for Midlands North West) and Dublin, with a first official result due to be announced at 10pm.

Nothing can be announced until that time to ensure that voting has closed across the rest of Europe and cannot influence voters in other EU countries. However, exit polls suggest that all three constituencies will see battles for the final seats, which will be dependent on how the transfers go from eliminated and elected candidates.

We can also expect to see results from the UK at 10pm, where the Brexit Party is expected to win a large number of seats at the expense of the Conservative Party. 

With reporting from © – AFP 2019