Today it is Ireland and Czechia’s turn to vote in this year’s EP elections. Polling stations opened in Ireland today at 7am and at 2pm in Czechia, with both remaining open until 10pm.
The upcoming European Parliament elections in Ireland are marked by an intense competition for the 14 available seats. Recent opinion polls have revealed a decrease in support for Sinn Féin, the center-left party, which is the primary opposition. Conversely, Fine Gael, the center-right party, has experienced a surge in popularity after a change in leadership, with Simon Harris now assuming the role of Ireland’s Prime Minister. The liberal Fianna Fáil party holds the third position in the polls, while several independent candidates have also emerged as potential contenders for seats in the European Parliament.
Czechia, under its Prime Minister Petr Fiala, is one of the two EU countries led by a member of the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) family, which is expected to make inroads in this election.
Fiala’s Civic Democratic Party (ODS, in Czech) belongs to the ECR group while his junior partners, KDU-ČSL and TOP 09, are affiliated with the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), considered part of the pro-European mainstream in Brussels. Together, the three form the SPOLU alliance and run as one joint list.
