Latvia, Malta and Slovakia, which all joined the European Union in 2004, have voted in European Parliament elections that are likely to see anti-EU parties surge in several key member states.
But in the Czech Republic, three pro-European parties took the lead with a right-wing group narrowly ahead, according to exit polls quoted by the daily Dnes, although turnout was at a record low.
Exit polls in Latvia also showed a solid result for pro-Europeans, bolstered by the crisis in Ukraine and fears in Europe's east of a resurgent Russia.
Voting in the mammoth election gathering almost 400 million eligible voters began in Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, joined 24 hours later by the Czech Republic and Ireland.
The remaining 21 EU states vote on Sunday for a parliament which has gained increasing powers and a key say in who gets to head the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.
Many Europeans however routinely choose not to vote. Turnout has fallen steadily from 62 per cent in 1979 to just 43 per cent in 2009, when Slovakia came bottom of the class with less than 20 per cent.
In the Czech Republic, exit polls show abstention hitting a new record 80 per cent compared with 72 per cent at the last 2009 vote.
Such low numbers have analysts talking of an EU "democratic deficit."
But that doesn't translate everywhere.
"I remember what elections were during the Soviet era. That's why I make sure I vote in every democratic election I can," Latvian pensioner Liga Laizane said.
France's populist National Front could emerge as the country's single biggest party on Sunday with 23.5 per cent of the vote while Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement is running strongly in Italy.
An exit poll by Ireland's national broadcaster RTE showed independents with 27 per cent of the vote, beating both mainstream parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
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