European elections: Why are Portugal and Malta allowing early voting?

With EU member states heading to the polls, here's how the elections differ from country to country.

Transcript

00:00 Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese voters voted early for the European elections.

00:05 Portugal allowed every citizen, not just the traditional early voters made up of the likes

00:09 of sick people and those abroad, to vote early.

00:13 Voting day is officially June 9th, but Portugal let voters exercise their right to vote a

00:18 week early.

00:19 We are happy because Portugal is also in the European Union.

00:22 We are in Europe, we are here, we have to be well represented.

00:30 We have to vote because it is not only here that we are represented, but also in Europe.

00:42 In 2019, Portugal had the worst abstention rate when it came to the European elections.

00:48 Almost 70% of people failed to vote, the worst rate since they joined the European Union

00:53 in 1986.

00:55 This year, Portuguese lawmakers aim to reverse the trend.

00:58 [SWOOSH]