Malmo, 28/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - Jeremy Smith, Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) informed Europe about what he considered were the two main roles the local and regional authorities should play in the European elections: 1) “the neutral but vital role of encouraging people to exercise their democratic rights” and 2) the role of “providing decent quality information about European issues”, whether this is about subjects directly affecting them or on more general topics. “They must be careful not to be advocates of too particular policies”. Mr Smith told EUROPE that a low voter turnout would “only be partly to do with local and regional information” and would also be caused by the perception citizens have of the European Union, 2) the voting system, which does not encourage voting and 3) “the lack of a real European political party fight”. (E.M./trans/rh)