Netherlands Kicks off EU Elections

Polls opened in the Netherlands on Thursday to kick off four days of voting in European Union parliamentary elections across the 27 member states. The elections see approximately 400 million people in the European Union's 27 member States cast their votes over four days. Voting will take place in all 27 member states to select 720 members of the European Parliament. After the Netherlands, Ireland will vote tomorrow Friday, followed by Latvia, Malta and Slovakia on Saturday, with Czech Republic and Italy voting over two days, on June 7 and 8. In the rest of the European Union, elections will be held next Sunday. Once votes are counted and politicians are elected to their seats in the European Parliament, political parties will form different European groups. After the results, and the new Parliament begins to take shape, European Union leaders will meet at an informal summit to begin the process of selecting the European Commission's new President, the most powerful executive position in the European Unio n. Incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is seeking a second term. Source: Qatar News Agency