Related articles

Even though the Czech Republic became a member of the European Union on May 1, border restrictions will remain for another three years. Entry into the Schengen system, which was originally planned for 2006, had been delayed until October 2007.

In reaction to the exit poll results, Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said the government was prepared to hold out to the end of its four-year mandate in 2006 but he acknowledged his party's defeat.

"I can see a number of reasons for our party's poor showing. It is very difficult to take over in such a turbulent time. Also, at the moment our party is searching for new, more modern policies. The third reason, I think, is the extremely low turnout, favouring parties with a hard core of faithful voters, which isn't the case of the Social Democrats."

The opposition Civic Democrats' top candidate for the European Parliament, Jan Zahradil, called the election result a symbolic "vote of no confidence" for the government. He said the reason behind his party's election success was the fact that they presented a consistent European manifesto and also a strong opposition alternative to the policies of the Social Democrat-led government. Mr Zahradil also commented on the low turnout.

"Many people don't know exactly what the European Union will mean for them, both in the positive and negative senses. Such people are less motivated to come out and vote. I think the low turnout is also a response to the pro-European propaganda of the last few years."

Exit polls for the Czech Republic's first ever European Parliament elections, carried out by the SC&C agency for Czech Television, suggest a comfortable victory for eurosceptic parties. They estimate that the right-of-centre opposition Civic Democrats have won 31 percent of the vote, followed by the largely unreconstructed opposition Communists with 17 percent. According to the exit polls, support for the ruling Social Democrats of Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla collapsed with only 10.5 percent of the vote. They are closely followed by the strongly pro-EU European Democrats with 10 percent and the Independents grouped around former media magnate Vladimir Zelezny with 8.5 percent. The poll puts the number of votes for the Christian Democrats, part of the ruling coalition, at around 8 percent. Preliminary estimates suggest only a 29-percent turnout, despite analysts predicting that 40 percent of the electorate would turn out over the two days.

The Czech Republic was the first of the new European Union member states where voters went to the polls, to elect 24 members of the European Parliament from almost 800 candidates from 31 political parties and groupings. In line with EU legislation, counting will not begin until 10 pm on Sunday after voting has wrapped up in all 25 EU member states.

It's still too early for concrete results, but what the exit polls do seem to indicate clearly, is an extremely low turnout, at around 27%. Adam Cerny from the newspaper Hospodarske noviny has been studying the polls.

This election has been a historic moment for me personally. After thirteen years living as a British citizen here in the Czech Republic, this was the first time I was able to take part in a Czech election: citizens from throughout the European Union are able to vote for Czech candidates to the European Parliament, that is as long as they do not vote elsewhere. As my name was ticked on the electoral roll and my 6-year-old son stuck the envelope with my vote into the ballot box, it seemed hard to believe that only fifteen years ago the Czech Republic

For the first time ever, Czechs will be sending their own elected representatives to the European Parliament. Czechs were the first of the 10 new EU member states to vote in the elections with polling stations opening at 2 pm on Friday throughout the Czech Republic and closing at 10 in the evening. The voting is to continue on Saturday, with the polling stations opening at 8 in the morning and closing at 2 in the afternoon. The final surveys released before voting got underway on Friday suggested that about 30-40 percent of the 8 million-plus Czechs who are eligible to vote were likely to do so. Over 730 people are in the running for the 24 seats allotted to the Czech Republic in the European Parliament, representing 31 different political parties and groupings.

Joining the European Union has highlighted many questions about the nature of the Czech European identity. For a historical perspective I spoke with Don Sparling from the Masaryk University in Brno. As a scholar in literature and cultural studies, he says that for much of European history Czech involvement has not been central, but the Czech lands have always managed to absorb and transform outside influences into something that is typically Czech. As various forces have swept across Europe over the centuries, it is very typical that Czechs have

Gunther Verheugen, who played a key role in negotiating the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union as EU commissioner for Enlargement, paid a flying visit to the Czech capital on Thursday. During the week of the Czech Republic's first ever elections to the European Parliament, Mr Verheugen who is now Commissioner for the European Neighbourhood Policy was in Prague to give a speech on the challenges and opportunities that confronted the new enlarged EU.

For the first time ever, Czechs are deciding who will represent them in the European Parliament. This Friday and Saturday over 8 million Czech voters are choosing among some 800 candidates fielded by 31 political parties and groupings. The Czech Republic will have 24 deputies in the 732-member European body.