European election polling cards arrive this week

Electors should keep an eye out for their polling card arriving this week.

Voters in Orkney – and the rest of the UK – will go to the polls in less than six weeks, on Thursday May 22.

Polling cards will start arriving through letter boxes from Monday and the council is encouraging people to check that they are registered to vote.   You can check that you are registered as an elector by viewing the electoral roll in the local libraries, or  by telephoning the local Electoral Registration Office on (01856) 876222.

Between May 22 and May 25, European citizens in 28 member countries will vote in this year’s European Parliamentary Election to elect 751 members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

From the May elections, the United Kingdom will have 73 MEPs.  Scotland is one of 12 electoral regions in the UK and will have 6 MEPs.

As some member countries do not hold the election until May 25, the counting of the Orkney votes will not take place until Sunday, May 25. The Regional Returning Officer for Scotland will announce the results as soon as all Local Returning Officers in Scotland have completed their counts and the votes have been collated.

For more information on the election visit www.orkney.gov.uk and follow the link on the home page.  The European Election pages will be available from today, Monday.