THE HAGUE: Dutch and UK polls opened Thursday in elections for the European Parliament, starting four days of voting across the 28-nation bloc that pits supporters of deeper integration against populist Euroskeptics who want more power for their national governments.
A half hour after voting started in the Netherlands, polls opened across the United Kingdom, the only other country voting Thursday, and a nation still wrestling with its plans to leave the European Union altogether and the leadership of embattled Prime Minister Theresa May.
The elections, which end Sunday night, come as support is surging for populists and nationalists who want to rein in the EU’s powers, while traditional powerhouses like France and Germany insist that unity is the best buffer against the shifting economic and security interests of an emerging new world order.
French President Emmanuel Macron says the challenge is “not to cede to a coalition of destruction and disintegration” that will seek to dismantle EU unity built up over the past six decades.
In a significant challenge to those centrist forces, populists appear largely united heading into the elections. On Saturday, Italy’s anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was joined at a rally by 10 other nationalist leaders, including far-right leaders Marine Le Pen of France’s National Rally party and Joerg Meuthen of the Alternative for Germany party.
On Thursday morning, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn released a message with a warning that “the far-right is on the rise” and adding that “the actions we take now will have huge consequences for our future.”
Voters across Europe elect a total of 751 lawmakers, although that number is set to drop to 705 when the UK leaves the EU. The Dutch make up just 26 currently and 29 after Brexit. The UK has 73 European lawmakers, who would lose their jobs when their country completes its messy divorce from the EU.
Results of the four days of voting will not be officially released until Sunday night, but Dutch national broadcaster NOS will publish an exit poll after ballot boxes close Thursday night.
The Netherlands could provide a snapshot of what is to come. Polls show the right-wing populist Forum for Democracy led by charismatic intellectual Thierry Baudet running neck-and-neck with the center-right VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
While the country, an affluent trading nation, profits from the EU’s open borders and single market, it also is a major contributor to EU coffers. Skeptical Dutch voters in 2005 rejected a proposed EU constitution in a referendum.
Baudet, whose party emerged as a surprise winner of provincial elections in March, identifies more with hard-line Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban than with the nationalist populist movement led by Salvini, although in a debate Wednesday night he called Salvini a “hero of Europe” for his crackdown on migration.
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Dutch, UK polls open, starting 4 days of European elections
Dutch, UK polls open, starting 4 days of European elections
- Voters across Europe will elect 751 lawmakers in the elections
- UK’s 73 lawmakers in the EU Parliament will lose their jobs if the country leaves the union
A Hong Kong court upholds the convictions of about a dozen activists in national security case
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court Monday dismissed all appeals arising from the city’s biggest case brought under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The pro-democracy advocates who lodged the challenges were among 47 activists charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution involving some of the best-known activists crushed much of the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement that reached a height with massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Forty-five of the defendants were sentenced to between four years and 10 years in 2024, with their punishments drawing criticism from foreign governments and rights groups.
Eleven activists who appealed their convictions lost their bids. They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Raymond Chan and Helena Wong.
All appeals over sentences, brought by 10 of them and another activist, were also dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lawrence Lau, a pro-democracy former district councilor, was one of two activists acquitted in the case. Judges upheld his acquittal following an appeal from the prosecution.
A primary led to convictions
Riding on the 2019 protests, the pro-democracy camp had been looking to make gains in the 2020 legislative election. The unofficial primary was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election.
During the trial, prosecutors said the activists aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
Judges at the appellate court ruled that the plan was unlawful under the meaning of the security law, saying it was conceived and advocated by legal scholar Benny Tai — whom the lower court described as the mastermind — as a “constitutional mass destruction weapon” for the purpose of toppling the city’s constitutional order.
Critics said the activists’ convictions illustrated how authorities crushed dissent following the 2019 protests. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability.
Leung’s wife, Chan Po-ying, also an activist but unrelated to the case, said the ruling was not based on facts, arguing the defendants’ acts were in line with the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“It already presumed these people had intended to subvert the state’s power,” she said.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the ruling reflected the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong.
“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice,” he said.
Some finished serving their terms
The case involved democracy advocates across the spectrum, including Tai, who got a 10-year prison term, and former student leader Joshua Wong, whose sentence was four years and eight months.
Nearly 20 activists in the case have been released from prison over the past year. Among them were former district councilors Jimmy Sham and Lester Shum. Sham and Lee Yue-shun, another acquitted activist, chatted with Lau before Monday’s hearing.
As those who were still in prison left the courtroom, some waved at their families and supporters.
Some residents stayed outside the court building in line since Saturday to secure a seat in the courtroom. Retiree Margaret Chan arrived Monday morning, hoping to show her support to those she considered to be innocent.
Seeing some activists released from prison relieved her. “They have survived it,” she said.
The pro-democracy advocates who lodged the challenges were among 47 activists charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution involving some of the best-known activists crushed much of the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement that reached a height with massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Forty-five of the defendants were sentenced to between four years and 10 years in 2024, with their punishments drawing criticism from foreign governments and rights groups.
Eleven activists who appealed their convictions lost their bids. They included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Raymond Chan and Helena Wong.
All appeals over sentences, brought by 10 of them and another activist, were also dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Lawrence Lau, a pro-democracy former district councilor, was one of two activists acquitted in the case. Judges upheld his acquittal following an appeal from the prosecution.
A primary led to convictions
Riding on the 2019 protests, the pro-democracy camp had been looking to make gains in the 2020 legislative election. The unofficial primary was meant to shortlist pro-democracy candidates for the official election.
During the trial, prosecutors said the activists aimed to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
Judges at the appellate court ruled that the plan was unlawful under the meaning of the security law, saying it was conceived and advocated by legal scholar Benny Tai — whom the lower court described as the mastermind — as a “constitutional mass destruction weapon” for the purpose of toppling the city’s constitutional order.
Critics said the activists’ convictions illustrated how authorities crushed dissent following the 2019 protests. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability.
Leung’s wife, Chan Po-ying, also an activist but unrelated to the case, said the ruling was not based on facts, arguing the defendants’ acts were in line with the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“It already presumed these people had intended to subvert the state’s power,” she said.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the ruling reflected the grave state of human rights in Hong Kong.
“By failing to overturn these wrongful convictions and sentences today, the court has missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice,” he said.
Some finished serving their terms
The case involved democracy advocates across the spectrum, including Tai, who got a 10-year prison term, and former student leader Joshua Wong, whose sentence was four years and eight months.
Nearly 20 activists in the case have been released from prison over the past year. Among them were former district councilors Jimmy Sham and Lester Shum. Sham and Lee Yue-shun, another acquitted activist, chatted with Lau before Monday’s hearing.
As those who were still in prison left the courtroom, some waved at their families and supporters.
Some residents stayed outside the court building in line since Saturday to secure a seat in the courtroom. Retiree Margaret Chan arrived Monday morning, hoping to show her support to those she considered to be innocent.
Seeing some activists released from prison relieved her. “They have survived it,” she said.
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