Jill Evans

Plaid Cymru has predicted it could be neck-and-neck with Labour in the Welsh region for the European elections.

And in an interview with ePolitix.com, nationalist MEP Jill Evans said the Iraq war is causing former Labour voters to abandon their support for the government.

"Our own internal polling has put Labour and ourselves very close together," Evans told this website.

"The main issue is the Iraq war and the situation there, that is the single biggest issue that people have raised with us.

"And overwhelmingly they are against the war. Even people who were initially supportive of the war have now changed their minds because of the disaster they have seen unfolding in Iraq."

Evans added that the "overwhelming message of the campaign" has been from voters who won't vote Labour following the Iraq war.

"We have been saying to those people that if they really want to protest against the New Labour government then they should do it by voting for Plaid Cymru," she said.

"By electing two Plaid Cymru members of the European parliament they will be making a much more effective and much louder protest than if they just don't vote at all."

Media coverage

Describing herself as "optimistic" about the support Plaid Cymru will gain in Thursday's elections, Evans added that media coverage of European affairs has made it more difficult to have a "sensible debate" about the role of Brussels.

"When people dismiss Europe as being totally irrelevant or just thinking up legislation which is going to make their lives more complicated, all the usual terms in which Europe is talked about in the press, when you are faced with that then you really miss a lot of the real issues," she explained.

"And it is not the bureaucracy or the red tape, but there are issues of democracy and accountability and waste which are then not dealt with properly because we then don't have that sensible debate and discussion."

With Wales losing one of its current five European parliament seats following May's enlargement of the EU, Evans added that the party could still retain its existing level representation in Brussels.

"It is a lot more difficult to win two seats out of four," she accepted.

"We have been having a tremendous response over the last few months campaigning right around the country, and it is not impossible for us to win two seats."