EU elections 2024: Millions across Europe head to the polls in final day of voting – live

Along with European parliament elections, Belgium is also holding a general election and regional ballots today.

But it is the national vote – which is expected to see a surge in support for a far-right party that wants to break up the country – that is dominating discourse in Belgium.

Polls suggest that the right will rise in Flanders and the left in primarily French-speaking Wallonia, suggesting a potentially fiendishly complicated coalition negotiation in the weeks and months to come.

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll has this dispatch from Brussels:

In the first European election since Britain left the EU, voters are being asked to elect 720 lawmakers to the world’s only directly elected transnational parliament.

This year’s ballot is being closely watched as opinion polls forecast significant gains for far-right and anti-establishment parties, which would have far-reaching consequences for the EU’s policy agenda.

My colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels has put together this primer on the elections:

Millions across Europe expected to vote in final day of European parliament elections

Good morning. It’s super Sunday – today 21 countries in Europe go to the polls, including Italy which runs its ballot over two days.

Among the 21 countries voting today are the EU’s other big three economies: Spain, Germany and France.

We’ll be following the action all day and late into the night, with a fairly definitive picture of the parliament expected to emerge around 1am on Monday CET (midnight BST). Predicted results are expected to appear earlier in the evening.