Vervroegd stemmen voor het Europees Parlement laat positieve trend in opkomst zien (en)

The latest data on early voting in European Parliament elections in Finland, Sweden and Estonia show a positive trend in turnout.

Finland has now completed its early voting period, which took place between 27 May and 2 June:  716 866 voters, 17.3% of the electorate, have cast their ballot, 1.1 points above the 2004 elections early-voting figure of 16.2%. In 2004 elections, final turnout was 2.5 times the number who voted early.

In Sweden, after 14 days of early voting, 422 517 people have cast their vote, which represents 5.96% of the electorate.  During the previous European elections in 2004, 4.19% had voted during the same period of advanced voting, so there is an increase of 1.77 percentage points. Early voting goes on until election day, which is Sunday in Sweden.

In Estonia, for the first time in European elections, voters can cast their ballot electronically. Since 28 May, 51 011 voters have done so (until midday today), which is 5.61% of total voters (908 187).  Since 1 June, early voting is also possible in some polling stations: 38 727 voters had voted by this method by yesterday evening. E-voting and traditional early voting represents about 9% of the electorate so far.  E-voting and early voting finish today at 7pm CET.

Early voting is also underway in Slovenia.

The latest opinion survey commissioned by the European Parliament and carried out by TNS between 4 and 15 May, suggests overall EU turnout at 49%, compared to the 34% forecast in a previous Eurobarometer survey completed in February.  43% respondents said they were certain to vote and 6% very likely. 12% said they were certain not to vote, while in February 19% said so.