2024 European elections: Counting underway as polls close in Catalonia – Follow live

The polls have closed in Sunday’s European election, and counting is underway.

Millions have cast their ballots on Sunday, and many more have done so since last Thursday across the continent, but while the European Parliament has 720 seats voters in Spain only elect 61 representatives.

Exit polls predict the European People’s Party to remain as the largest party in the continental chamber. Among voters in Spain, the conservatives are also projected to win the vote, followed by the Socialists.

The turnout for the 2024 European election in Catalonia at 6 pm was 33.69%, down by almost 17 percentage points compared to the last vote in 2019, which coincided with local elections and fell during the peak of the independence push. 

In total, more than 5.7 million voters in Catalonia were eligible to cast their ballots until 8 pm at one of 2,934 polling stations across the territory. 

Defense and security amid the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza are some of the biggest topics the next European legislature will have to face, as well as the ongoing climate crisis and the European Union’s Green New Deal debate. 

In Catalonia, one of the biggest topics for the continental institution is the question of making Catalan an official European language.