Governments wary as vote nears end

By Timothy Heritage

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union completes a European Parliament election on Sunday which is expected to embarrass governments struggling to combat the effects of the global economic crisis.

Voting will take place in 19 countries on the fourth and final day of the election, in which the other seven EU member states have already finished voting.

Although centrist parties are expected to remain the dominant forces in the 736-member assembly, which shapes many EU laws and authorises the EU budget, some far-right parties could make gains if the turnout is particularly low.

The parliament will start releasing results at 9 p.m. British time (2000 GMT) after the last ballot station closes. Exit polls from voting in the Netherlands worried EU leaders by showing gains for a far-right party.

"It doesn't look like the elections are going to be a triumph or a grand moment for European democracy," said Thomas Klau of the European Council on Foreign relations.

"National governments have set the perception that Europe is pretty useless by not being able to deliver a sufficiently strong and compelling and united message in the midst of the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s."

Opinion polls before the election began suggested fewer than half the 375 million electorate would vote.

Many voters are worried by rising unemployment and say the EU has done too little, too late to tackle the economic crisis, although it eventually agreed a fiscal stimulus plan which poured in money to try to revive the economy.