The European elections are underway with the UK voting on Thursday, May 23. In total 28 EU member states will elect 751 members of the European parliament for a five-year term and the elections will take place across the continent until Sunday, May 26. The UK is divided into 12 electoral regions made up of the nations and regions of the UK and polling stations will stay open until 10pm tonight.
Will there be an exit poll for the European elections tonight?
There will be no exit poll in the UK tonight.
This is because elections are taking place across Europe until Sunday and results cannot be announced before the last votes on the continent are made.
Other countries where voters take to the polls on Sunday have exit polls, but it’s unlikely we’ll see that from the UK at all.
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The European elections result will start being announced from 10pm with exit polls in some countries expected at about the same time.
Only the UK and the Netherlands are voting in the elections on Thursday.
Ireland and the Czech Republic go to the polls on Friday while Latvia, Malta and Slovakia vote on Saturday.
The remaining EU member states will vote on Sunday.
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How are exit polls done?
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken after they leave the polling stations.
Unlike an opinion poll, an exit poll asks for whom the voter actually voted for, not who they intend to vote for.
These polls are usually conducted to gain an early indication as to how an election has turned out.
How do the European elections in the UK work?
The UK is divided into 12 electoral regions during the European elections compared to the 650 constituencies for the general election.
The constituencies for the European elections are:
- East Midlands (five MEP seats)
- East of England (seven)
- London (eight)
- North East (three)
- North West (eight)
- Northern Ireland (three)
- Scotland (six)
- South East (10)
- South West (six)
- Wales (four)
- West Midlands (seven)
- Yorkshire and the Humber (six)
