Slovenia among the EU members with the largest increase in voter turnout
In Slovenia, the voter turnout was 41.4 percent this year, and 28.9 percent in 2019. At the EU level, this year's voter turnout was around 51%, which is slightly more than five years ago. At that time, the turnout was 50.66%.
The improved turnout among at least 14 member states was hailed by European Parliament spokesperson Jaume Duch, who spoke of preliminary figures indicating a total turnout of around 51%, a modest improvement on the 50.66% figure from 2019.
Other countries with major turnout rises included Slovakia (+9.6 points), Czechia (+7.7 points), Portugal (+6.7 points), the Netherlands (+4.2 points) and Germany (+3.4 points).
At the low end, Croatia saw just 21.34% of voters cast ballots, down sharply from 29.85% in 2019. Lithuania also struggled at 28.94%, as did Bulgaria with 31.8% despite having compulsory voting along with Belgium, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Greece.
The highest participation was indeed recorded in Belgium at 89.8%, where national and regional votes overlapped with the EU polls, with Luxembourg following at 82.3% and Malta at 73%.
Total turnout peaked at 61.99% in the first direct EU elections in 1979 but then declined steadily until reversing course in 2019.