The European Elections voting marathon explained

Tomorrow (Thursday 4th June) the European Elections start, but they will not be completed until Sunday 7th June. As an Expatica article helpfully explains it's a lot more complicated than that - and of course the whole thing will take several weeks to resolve as the results are digested in the 'carving up' of the top jobs on committees, etc:

European Elections - voting timetable Thursday 4th June 2009 - United Kingdom, Netherlands Friday 5th June 2009 - Ireland Friday 5th June and Saturday 6th June 2009 - Czech Republic Saturday 6th June 2009 - Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia Saturday 6th June and Sunday 7th June 2009 - Italy Sunday 7th June 2009 - France, Germany, Spain and the other 15 countries in the EU

The first reasonably reliable projections of the results are likely to be available around 9pm (BST) on Sunday 7th June 2009. We'll all need a long rest after this 4-day vote-fest!