LAST UPDATE | 8 Jun
FOUR DAYS OF voting to choose a new European Parliament passed the halfway mark Saturday with Slovakia and influential Italy joining in.
While Ireland voted yesterday (along with Czechia), and the Netherlands voted on
Thursday, most of the EU’s 27 countries – including powerhouses Germany and France – will hold their votes tomorrow.
Projected overall results are due late on Sunday evening.
Slovakia’s voters have rallied to the ruling left-wing populist Smer-SD party in the wake of the 15 May shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who blamed the attack on the main liberal opposition and its “aggressive and hateful politics”.
Authorities said the assassination attempt, by a 71-year-old poet, was politically motivated.
One voter, Jozef Zahorsky, a 44-year-old teacher, said “it was not easy” but he cast his ballot for Smer because it stood for “the interests of Slovakia, not Brussels”.
Fico’s party opposes EU arms deliveries to Ukraine and rails against alleged “warmongers” in Brussels.
Slovakia’s president-elect, Peter Pellegrini, victor in April national polls, is also Ukraine-sceptic. Today he said the European Union was at a “crossroads”, needing a “new defence policy” and an alternative to a “restrictive” Green transition harming industry and competition.
Those are positions shared with many far-right parties in Europe, which are predicted to make gains in the European Parliament.
Surveys suggest they could grab as much as a quarter of the 720 seats, weakening the centrist mainstream groupings which are expected to still come out on top.
Late last night, a man hit Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a Copenhagen square.
She was not seriously hurt, according to witnesses. Police arrested the assailant, whose motive was not immediately known. Denmark also votes tomorrow.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned the “despicable act” against Frederiksen, but the shooting of Fico was the most dramatic incident in the bloc ahead of the polls.
In its wake, support for Fico’s left-wing populist Smer-SD party has skyrocketed and soared past its main liberal rival to the top of voter-intention surveys.
Historically however, Slovakia registers low turnout in EU elections. In the last one, in 2019, just 22% of voters cast ballots.
Italy and the far-right
In Italy, far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is hoping a strong showing from her party will strengthen her hand as a key EU powerbroker.
Polls suggest her post-fascist Brothers of Italy could come out on top with 27% of the vote, which would reflect a broader surge of gains for far-right groups across the EU.
Ireland had a record number of far-right candidates running in its elections, though it remains to be seen if any candidates will secure one of the country’s 14 EU seats.
A good showing for Meloni’s party could give her a lot of sway in the new EU Parliament, as her backing could be crucial in deciding if current Commission president von der Leyen, a German conservative, earns a second term in charge.
Meloni has already been courted by centre-right von der Leyen — and by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who wants to create an EU supergroup of far-right parties.
Meloni has not said what she will do, but has insisted her goal is to relegate EU leftwing parties to the opposition benches.
As with Ireland, increasing backlash against migrants has driven far-right fortunes across the EU, and was one of the key reasons Meloni was propelled to power in 2022.
Overall, polls ahead of the vote suggested that far-right parties could claim around a quarter of the 720 seats in the incoming EU parliament.
Candidates standing in Ireland’s local and European elections faced political intimidation in person and online on at least 36 occasions, according to a new report.
An analysis of incidents by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC) found that candidates across the political spectrum were targeted dozens of times since the campaign officially began on 6 May.
The incidents uncovered by the two think-tanks included racist abuse, harassment, physical violence and sexually-charged abuse.
It highlighted common themes from those involved in intimidation and harassment, including claims that established politicians are “traitors” and the issuing of “sinister threats” to candidates.
“Racism and anti-migrant hate speech were widespread, particularly when migrant candidates were harassed,” the report said.
“In seven incidents, the perpetrators specifically confronted candidates over their stance on immigration.”
With reporting by Cormac Fitzgerald
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