As one of 380 million people in Europe entitled to vote I went into my local polling station: the Guildhall in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, and received a voting paper. The voting paper for our region, South East England, was very long and included 15 parties – most with ten candidates.
The elections are for membership to the European Parliament – the only directly elected EU institution, and one with great powers, but not easy to understand.
At a normal national or local election I would come home after voting, and watch with interest for the result. This time there will be no result until Sunday – when all nations have voted. Even then – given the complex political groupings in Europe – I won’t know who has won. The media here in the UK will concentrate on how well the UK parties have done – something we do understand.
