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German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, has called on the electorate to reject nationalist forces as elections to the European Parliament kicked off on Thursday.
“The point is whether we leave Europe to the forces of chaos, division and fear, those that want to destroy Europe in the end,” he said in Berlin.
Nationalists and populists would lead the way to chaos, Maas said.
The self-destruction of Austria’s right-wing populists was simply a crass example of their “blend of megalomania, declining values and contempt for democracy.’’
Voting got under way in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday.
By Sunday, the last day of polling, all 28 member states will have voted for 751 new members of the Strasbourg parliament. Some 418 million people are eligible to vote.
Bavarian Premier, Markus Soeder, urged people to vote, cautioning against the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and other right-wing populists.
“Let us not jeopardise the future of Europe through boredom or lack of interest,” Soeder said in statement issued in Munich.
The turnout in the last elections in 2014 came in at around 43 per cent.
(dpa/NAN)
