Word: european
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...Between June 4 and 7, some 375 million Europeans will be entitled to cast votes to elect a new, 736-member Parliament. However, a survey earlier this year found that only 34% of eligible voters are likely to do so. This apathy spurs the rise of the mavericks: since most Europeans still do not know who their MEPs are or what they do, they use their votes instead to punish incumbents. (Read "Why So Few Care About the European Parliament Elections...
...Voters think the stakes are lower than in national elections - or, at any rate, less clear," says Hugo Brady of the Center for European Reform think tank. "Moreover, the Parliament can often seem distant because few voters know what it actually does. And even if they do, the areas where the Parliament exercises most influence seem technical and dull...
...contain more disruptive elements. These range from the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), which campaigns to pull Britain out of the E.U., to France's Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, a comedian of Cameroonian descent whose declared primary aim is "wiping out Zionism" in the world. The only pan-European party, with 600 affiliated candidates standing across the E.U., is the fiercely Euroskeptic Libertas, led by Irish millionaire Declan Ganley. (Read "How One Man Plans to Sink the European Union...
...mainstream parties are outflanked, they often have themselves to blame. In many countries, the European Parliament is seen as a Siberia for politicians whose day is done in the national arena - hence the decision by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to send his glamorous justice minister Rachida Dati to the assembly because of her high-handed management style and the gossip surrounding her clothes and private life. (See pictures of Sarkozy...
...This election is very difficult for mainstream parties," says Antonio Missiroli, director of studies at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC). "It is complicated to make a case for Europe at this moment. And during the economic crisis, voters feel that someone has to be blamed, whether it is Europe or capitalism in general...