Netherlands defends early release of poll results
(THE HAGUE) - The Dutch government said Friday it would explain to the European Commission its release of preliminary results of EU elections as it insisted voters had the right to know the outcome speedily.
"Discussions are underway with the European Commission," ministry spokesman Tijs Manten told AFP after the commission had asked the Netherlands for a clarification.
"We will give them an explanation. We believe that voters have the right to know the results speedily."
Dutch and British voters on Thursday kicked off four days of voting across Europe to choose the 736 members of the European Parliament, the only directly elected EU institution.
While the British results will not be released until all 27 EU nations have finished voting on Sunday, preliminary results from the Netherlands, where a far-right deputy made significant gains, were published as they were counted.
Official Dutch results will be released next Thursday after confirmation by the electoral council, said Manten.
The country had also released its results ahead of the rest of the bloc in 2004, without sanction from the EU.
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In support of the Dutch
In my view any action against the Dutch will be counter productive and an insult to the Dutch electorate.
The EU should face the facts that the Dutch are electing Dutch MEP's the UK are electing UK MEP's I suspect like me they dont care who the Germans, the French or anyone else elects to represent them. The EU Eurocrats who think otherwise are delusional