European Union elections put focus on eastern Europe
BRUSSELS: Latvia, Malta and Slovakia, who all joined the European Union in 2004, voted Saturday in European Parliament elections shaping up as a test between eurosceptic parties and the rest.
After the Czech Republic and Ireland Friday, and Britain and the Netherlands Thursday, Saturday's polls set the stage for the rest of the 28 EU states to vote Sunday for a parliament equipped with new powers and a key say in who gets to head the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
Nearly 400 million people can vote but turnout is expected to plumb record lows, having fallen from 62 percent in 1979 to just 43 percent in 2009 -- when Slovakia came bottom of the class with less than 20 percent.
Such low numbers have analysts talking of an EU 'democratic deficit,' reflecting voter hostility to a bloated bureaucracy in Brussels identified with the harsh austerity policies adopted to stabilise strained public finances.
With an economy growing slowly, pro-EU politicians have to work hard to get their message across that member states will do better together than apart.
'Better together' however does get a better reception in eastern Europe, where former communist states run from Moscow keep a very wary eye on Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
Finding safety in the EU and NATO since the end of the Cold War, countries such as Poland are firm believers in the European project -- a recent Pew Research Centre poll there showed 72 percent support for the bloc.
For Latvia and the other Baltic states Lithania and Estonia, a resurgent Russia under President Vladimir Putin is cause of a concern to which the eurosceptics have no answer.
"I remember what elections were during the Soviet era. That's why I make sure I vote in every democratic election I can," Latvian pensioner Liga Laizane told AFP early Saturday.
In Slovakia, another pensioner, Maria Hajkova, had a similar message. "I always vote and I don't understand why so many young people ignore this election ... I want the European politicians to preserve peace and prevent the war from spreading from Ukraine."
See more here:
European Union elections put focus on eastern Europe