The European elections will see each of the 28 EU member states take to the polls over the next three days to compose a new EU Parliament. The UK and Netherlands are the first countries to cast their ballots, followed by Ireland on May 24. Polling stations opened this morning at 7am, and will close by 10pm. The results of today’s vote won’t be available until this weekend, however.

What time is the result of the EU election due?

Results from the UK’s 12 electoral regions won’t be released until the rest of the bloc has had a chance to vote.

The last 21 EU nations to vote will do so on May 26, with the last poll station closing at 10.15pm.

Exit poll results are released at the same time for each country, after a lengthy counting process.

Most of the EU operates on the d’Hondt system of proportional representation.

Parties standing in the election supply a list of candidates to each one of a member states’ 12 electoral regions.

Voters then pick their favourite candidate from the options available to them.

Ballots are counted and processed in seven phases before seats are assigned.

What will happen to UK MEPs after Brexit?

The UK’s elected MEPs will not be in Parliament for long, with Brexit scheduled for October 31.

The European Council ruled in 2018 27 of the UK’s 73 seats would be reallocated after Brexit.

They reduced the composition of the EU Parliament from 751 to 705 this year in preparation.

The number of seats each EU member will gain as a result of Brexit is as follows:

– France (+5)

– Spain (+5)

– Italy (+3)

– Netherlands (+3)

– Ireland (+2)

– Sweden (+1)

– Austria (+1)

– Denmark (+1)

– Finland (+1)

– Slovakia (+1)

– Croatia (+1)

– Estonia (+1)

– Poland (+1)

– Romania (+1)

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