European elections 2019: Voting begins across UK, Netherlands

Voters headed to cast their ballot across the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK) as polling in 28 European Union (EU) member states commenced on Thursday.

Over the next four days, citizens of the EU member states will elect 751 representatives to serve in the European Parliament for the next five years, Sputnik reports.

A half-hour after voting started in the Netherlands, polls opened across the UK, the only other country voting in the elections today. The Dutch will elect 26 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), while people in the United Kingdom will elect 73 legislators.

Voting results will only be published after the closure of all polling stations in all EU member states on Sunday (May 26).

Surveys in the UK earlier showed that Nigel Farage, who created the Brexit Party in March, is expected to gain about 23 per cent of the votes, beating the Labour Party and the governing Conservatives.

The UK was initially set to leave the bloc before the vote, on March 29, however, the government failed to secure support for its divorce plan, prompting the country to hold the elections.