Here are some key races to watch in the EU Parliament elections

BRUSSELS — It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by EU elections. Voters are casting their ballots in two dozen languages ​​in 27 countries with dozens of different campaign issues.

Here’s a look at some key places to watch in the June 6-9 elections for a new European Parliament.

Long-standing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán He is expected to extend his party’s nearly 15-year streak of electoral victories when the central European country votes in European Parliament elections on Sunday, but he faces one of the most formidable challenges of his career from a former ally.

Orbán’s right-wing populist Fidesz party has won more than 50% of the vote in the last three EU elections and looks set to win the most votes again this year. But a new opposition force, led by a former Fidesz member turned Orbán critic, has grown in a matter of weeks to become Hungary’s largest opposition party, and will likely cause Fidesz to lose at least one seat in the parliament.

Péter Magyar, a 43-year-old lawyer who was married to former Hungarian Justice Minister and Orbán ally Judit Varga, has risen to prominence since February for his public accusations of corruption and mismanagement within Orbán’s government.

Magyar’s Respect and Freedom party (TISZA) has presented itself as a more centrist alternative to Orbán’s brand of illiberal populism, and is likely to win several seats in the EU legislature. He has also taken advantage of the economic crisis and discontent with Hungary’s traditional opposition parties to divert much of their support.

Still, the social-democratic Democratic Coalition, as well as the liberal Momentum party, could retain some of their seats, while the far-right Nuestra Patria party could send its first delegate to Brussels after Sunday’s vote.

Orbán has cast the election as an existential struggle between war and peace, telling voters that voting for his opposition would drag Hungary directly into war in neighboring Ukraine and precipitate a global armed conflict. He has been in power since 2010.

Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, is expected to dramatically expand its number of seats in the European Parliament compared to seven in the last elections, which could expand its influence in the EU.

Her pro-Ukraine and pro-Israel policies have proven reassuring to her centrist American and European allies, but she is leading culture wars at home that preserve her far-right credentials.

In Italy, the vote is not expected to destabilize the government, even if Meloni’s advantage will come at the expense of his partners in the ruling coalition, the populist, anti-immigrant right-wing Lega, led by Matteo Salvini, and the centrist party. The right-wing Forza Italia, headed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

Polling data predicts that Brothers of Italy will win about a quarter of the vote, on par with the 2022 national election results, but well ahead of the last European parliamentary vote in 2019. Polls indicate that the The center-left Democratic Party will take second place. , followed by the opposition 5 Star Movement.

Italians over the age of 18 can vote to elect 76 European parliamentary seats over two days, June 8 and 9.

French far-right leader Marina Le Pen and the anti-immigration and nationalist ideas that she has long advocated to be the big winners in the EU elections.

Pollsters expect his National Rally party to win the majority of France’s 81 seats, well ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s moderate, pro-business party.

The National Group’s leading European Parliament candidate, Jordan Bardella, promises to limit the free movement of migrants within the EU’s open borders and reduce EU climate rules. The party no longer wants to abandon the EU and the euro, but rather weaken them from within.

Many French voters will use the EU elections to express their discontent with Macron’s management of the economy, agricultural rules or security. That could hurt him as he tries to lead European efforts to defend ukraine and boost the EU’s own defenses and industry.

On the left, polls show a surprising resurgence of France’s Socialist Party behind leading candidate Raphaël Glucksmann, who promises more ambitious climate policy and protections for European businesses and workers. Some left-wing voters are frustrated with the strong pro-Palestinian stance of the influential far-left France Insoumise party. France has the largest Jewish community in Europe, as well as one of the largest Muslim populations, and the war between Israel and Hamas has been a flashpoint in the election campaign.

In Germany, which will have the largest number of the new European Parliament’s 720 seats (96), the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular center-left government coalition risk of being punished by voters due to persistent disputes and a weak economy.

The main centre-right opposition hopes to benefit and maintain its position as the strongest German party in Brussels as it looks ahead to national elections scheduled for autumn next year.

But much attention will be paid to the performance of the far right. Alternative for Germany, which has enjoyed strong support over the past year but has been hit by a series of setbacks ahead of the European elections. Among those are scandals around its two main candidates for the EU legislature.

The party can hope to make gains in its performance in 2019, but perhaps not as much as it hopes.

Voters in Slovakia will vote in European Union parliamentary elections on Saturday, just weeks after a attempted murder The populist prime minister, Robert Fico.

Analysts hope the event that shocked the nation of 5.4 million people will be a boost to turnout, which was the lowest in the entire bloc in 2014 and 2019. It is also expected to boost the chances of the leftist Smer party (Direction) of Fico, the main partner of the ruling coalition, to win the vote.

Smer is in a tight race against the main opposition party, Progressive Slovakia, a pro-Western liberal party. Fico’s group has been attacking the EU’s support for Ukraine, as well as other policies on immigration, climate change and LGBTQ+ rights.

Two other political groups are far behind: the Republic, a far-right party that wants Slovakia to leave NATO; and Hlas (or the Voice), another left-wing coalition party previously led by Fico’s close ally Peter Pellegrini, who will take over as the country’s president next week.

Slovakia is contesting 15 seats in the elections.

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