VOTERS have taken to the polls in York and North Yorkshire to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) - but will have to wait until late on Sunday to find out who has won the region’s six seats.

A total of 52 candidates representing nine parties stood in the Yorkshire and Humber region yesterday.

Under proportional representation, voters chose a single party to vote for and the number of elected candidates from each party’s list will depend upon the proportion of votes cast.

Unlike council and UK elections, the votes will not be counted straightaway, with the count to be held instead on Sunday.

A York council official said the turnout figure would not be known until later but, anecdotally, it seemed by late afternoon yesterday that turnout at polling stations and via postal votes was lower than was seen for the local elections earlier this month.

However, he said polls stayed open until 10pm and so this could change.

“There are no hitches to report so far, things are running as they normally do,” he added.

A Local Government Association spokesman said councils were "hugely experienced" at running elections and had worked tirelessly around the clock to get everything in place for the EU elections at short notice.

Meanwhile, voters took to social media yesterday to share photos of their pets at the polls - including Lucy Montgomery’s beautiful dog Jessi outside York Barbican while she went to vote inside.

The #DogsAtPollingStations hashtag encourages people to take a snapshot of their pooch outside their polling station and has become one of the most popular recent traditions on election days.

Lucy said Jessi, four, was originally from Austria, where she and her partner adopted her from the Vienna Animal Shelter when they lived there.