Europe goes to polls under shadow of political violence

Slovakia, Italy and the Czech Republic were among five European Union nations casting their votes on the penultimate day of European Union elections, in a race held under the shadow of political violence.

- ANDY GREGORY

Populist and far-right parties are seeking to make gains across the 27-member union, with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni throwing down a gauntlet to the bloc’s centrist hegemony in warning that their time of European dominance would soon be up.

“This vote will decide our next five years,” Ms Meloni said yesterday, underscoring her campaign’s push to curtail the reach of the EU institutions dominated by pro-business liberals, and to draw power back to national capitals – a desire she shares with Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, among others.

As well as being dominated by the looming threat of the far right, with Geert Wilders in the Netherlands enjoying a strong showing on Thursday, voters have cast their ballots under the shadow of the recent assassination attempt on Mr Fico and an assault on Denmark’s Mette Fredriksen.

The Danish premier was forced to call off her final day of campaigning after suffering whiplash when she was assaulted in Copenhagen on Friday – the latest in a series of incidents over recent weeks.

In Slovakia, analysts said the attack on Mr Fico – which sent shockwaves through Europe on 15 May – could boost the chances of his leftist Smer party to win the vote.