Upcoming voting events in Europe - 10.4 million individuals are urged to participate in voting.
It's time for the European election, and people in Bavaria are gearing up to participate. A whopping 10.4 million individuals have been called to take part in this process. This includes 220,000 16- and 17-year-olds, who will be voting for the first time because of the change in voting age. The voting will continue until 6:00 p.m. There are 34 proposals from various political parties and associations, with 1,413 candidates spread all over the country.
Interestingly, Bavaria also has around 822,000 individuals with an EU citizenship who can vote. They have the option to choose whether they want to vote in Bavaria or in their home country.
The CSU has been a big deal in the past; they garnered 40.7% in the European election five years ago. Back then, CSU Vice President Manfred Weber had run as a pan-European EPP candidate, and he ultimately became Commission President with a staggering 60.8% voter turnout - the second highest since 1979 in Bavaria. The turnout in the European parliament election last year, on the other hand, was quite lower, with the CSU only managing 37.0%.
Interestingly, Bavaria has sent a total of 15 MPs to the European Parliament over the past five years. Six of these came from the CSU, three from the AfD, two each from the SPD and Greens, one from the Free Voters, and one from ODP.
In two surveys conducted in early May, the CSU was expected to achieve between 41 and 43% in Bavaria. Meanwhile, the Greens and AfD each had between 12 and 14%, while the SPD had 9%. The Free Voters were expected to receive 9% in the Bavarian European election surveys.
Unfortunately, some regions have been affected by the recent floods, and this has had an impact on the voting process. Polling stations have had to be relocated in some municipalities, and in some cases, when town halls weren't usable, provisional administrations were created. Moreover, if post boxes or municipal administrations were flooded, postal ballots had to be submitted from some people, which were then destroyed because of potential double voting. In these situations, the municipalities issued new ballot papers and couriers were used for delivery. The previously submitted ballot papers were made invalid.
