Finns vote today to elect members of European Parliament

The ballot in the European Parliamentary polls will be held in Finland on Sunday.

A total of 4546589 Finns- 2353428 women and 2193161 men- living in home and abroad are entitled to cast votes in the polls.

A total of 1092511 Finnish people already cast votes in advance in Finland in the European parliamentary elections, which is 25.4 % percent of the total voters living in the country, according to the Statistics of the Ministry of Justice.

A total of 15,071 persons visited the Finnish diplomatic and consular missions abroad to vote in advance in the elections.

Altogether 150 crew members voted on board Finnish vessels.

The voting on the election day will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and the preliminary results of the election will be published on the evening of the election day starting at 8:00p.m.

In the elections, 15 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be elected in Finland for a term of five years.

Voters need to present proof of their identity at the polling station. Official photo IDs, such as passports, driving licences and identity cards issued by the police are accepted as proof of identity.

Voters who do not have a valid proof of identity can obtain a temporary identity card free of charge from the police for voting purposes.

A recount of votes will be conducted by the constituency electoral committees on June 10. The constituency electoral committee of Helsinki will confirm the election results for the entire country and issue credentials to the elected MEPs on June 12.

The term of office of the new European Parliament will officially begin on July 16.