Greece Breaks Record for EU Parliament Candidates

With a total of 1,299 candidates vying for the 21 seats elected by Greece, the country easily tops other EU member-states for the number of candidates relative to the size of its electorate and actually fields more candidates than much larger countries, including Germany (1,053) and Italy (807), who elect 96 and 73 MEPs, respectively.

The largest number of candidates running in terms of absolute numbers is in France (3,753) and Spain (2,106). In total, there are 16,351 candidates vying for election to the European Parliament's 751 seats throughout the 28 EU member-states.

The first estimated results per political group of the European Parliament elections are expected to be announced at about 23:00 Greek time, based on samples and exit polls. A more reliable picture of the final result is not expected to emerge before 1:00 on Monday in Greece, however, since polling stations stay open until much later in some of the EU member-states.

Only 17 member-states are expected to announce exit poll results at around 19:00, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and possibly Hungary.