UK : ''THE ZOMBIE EUROPEAN POLLS''

THE prospect of Britain holding European elections would have been unthinkable just weeks ago but with the Brexit timetable now uncertain, the country is reluctantly planning for a possible campaign.

Village halls and schools across the country are being booked as polling centres and orders placed with specialist stationers for tens of millions of ballots in case the May 23 vote goes ahead.

Yet both the ruling  Conservatives  and the main opposition Labour Party  are keeping quiet about any campaign plans wary of how voters might respond.

Zombie election : May has previously said it would be ''unacceptable'' to ask Britons to take part in the elections three years after they voted to leave the European Union.

Election officials, who would normally have begun planning for the European polls before Christmas, are now under intense pressure..

After pressing the government for weeks, ministers finally confirmed last Monday they would reimburse costs of preparations that were strictly necessary.

The process of booking venues and ordering stationery is now under way - a mammoth task.

At the last European elections in 2014, they sent out 7.2 million postal votes, printed 46.5 million poll cards and had 39,000 polling stations.

Letters must also be sent out to more than three million EU citizens living in Britain to ask if they want to vote here or in their home country.

Laura Lock, deputy chief executive of the  Association of Electoral Administrations, told AFP her members would do what was necessary, but that it would require a ''superhuman effort''.