European Parliament elections to be held on May 23, 24

President Miloš Zeman on Thursday formally called elections for the European Parliament in the Czech Republic for May 23 and 24. Voting in all EU member states will take place at the end of May. Czech polls will open at 2 PM on Friday, May 23; they will close at 10 PM to reopen the next day between 8 AM and 2 PM. Czech parties are now finalizing nominations for the elections. The Social Democrat ballot will be headed by sociologist Jan Keller, ANO is fielding former European commissioner Pavel Telička and the Civic Democrats have nominated MEP Jan Zahradil as their electoral leader.