Polling stations have opened for the European Parliament elections in Bath.

Five people with connections to the city are among the 89 standing for the giant south west constituency.

They represent a record 17 parties aiming to win the six seats held by the region in Europe.

Polling closes at 10pm tonight but results will not be known until the end of a pan-European counting process on Sunday.

Among the candidates will be Julia Reid, who will be standing in the South West constituency for the UK Independence Party.

Dr Reid, 56, has a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Bath. For the last 10 years she has been working for the Diabetes and Lipid Research Laboratory at the Royal United Hospital.

Jonathan Cockburn, of Locksbrook Road, will be standing in the constituency for the Pensioners Party.

The 52-year-old has recently agreed to cycle to Brussels if he is elected along with the Green Party's lead candidate for the region, Ricky Knight.

The lead candidate in the region for the Libertas.eu party, Robin Matthews, and Green hopeful Chloe Somers also live in Bath.

Candidates also include high-profile reality TV star and former The Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins, who will be standing as an independent.

Four of the MEPs who have represented the South West for last five years are standing for re-election.

They are Liberal Democrat Graham Watson, who went to the old City of Bath Boys' School, Tory Giles Chichester, Labour's Glyn Ford and UKIP's Trevor Colman.

Owing to the EU's enlargement, the South West region, which for administrative purposes also includes Gibraltar, will elect only six MEPs, compared to seven in 2004.

Since 1999, voters in Britain have elected MEPs under a proportional representation system.

The European Parliamentary Elections Act of that year introduced a regional list system, with seats allocated to parties in proportion to their share of the vote.

Voters in Wiltshire also go to the polls today to elect councillors to the new unitary authority - Wiltshire Council.

European candidates are:

British National Party

1. Jeremy Edward Wotherspoon

2. Barry John Sinclair Bennett

3. Adrian Llewellyn Romilly

4. Sean Derrick Twitchin

5. Lawrence Reginald West

6. Peryn Walter Parsons

Christian Party

1. William Patrick Capstick

2. Katherine Susan Mills

3. Diana Ama Ofori

4. Larna Jane Martin

5. Peter Vickers

6. Adenike Williams

Conservative Party

1. Giles Bryan Chichester

2. Julie McCulloch Girling

3. Ashley Peter Fox

4. Michael John Edward Dolley

5. Donald John Collier

6. Syeda Zehra Zaidi

English Democrats Party

1. Michael John Turner

2. Sara Shelley Box

3. Keith Robert Riley

4. Stephen Michael Wright

5. Raymond Christopher Carr

6. Lee Pickering

Fair Pay Fair Trade Party

1. David Michael

2. Judy Foster

Green Party

1. Richard Antony Knight

2. Roger Michael Creagh- Osborne

3. David Ronald Moore Taylor

4. Sarah Margaret Scott-Cato

5. Chloe Alice Somers

6. Richard Hugh Lawson

Independent:

Katie Olivia Hopkins

Jury Team

1. Sally Dorothea Smith

2. Martin Thomas Paley

3. Michael Andrew Clayton

4. Brian Gordon Underwood

5. Roger Whitfield

6. William Christopher Barnett

Labour Party

1. James Glyn Ford

2. Isabel Martha Owen

3. Keir Dhillon

4. Dorothea Hodge

5. Dafydd Emlyn Williams

6. Elizabeth Susan Lisgo

Liberal Democrats

1. Graham Robert Watson

2. Kay Barnard

3. Justine McGuinness

4. Humphrey Peter Neville Temperley

5. Paul Stephen Massey

6. Jonathan Stagnetto

Mebyon Kernow – Party for Cornwall

1. Dick Cole

2. Conan James Trevenen Jenkin

3. Loveday Elizabeth Trevenen Jenkin

4. Simon John Reed

5. Glenn Renshaw

6. Joanie Mary Anne Willett

No2EU: Yes To Democracy

1. Alexander Fraser Gordon

2. Roger Alexander Davey

3. Rachael Lynch

4. Nicholas James David Quirk

5. John Howard Chambers

6. Paul Charles Dyer

Pensioners' Party

1. Jonathan Cockburn

2. Barry Hodgson

3. Derek Francis Wharton

4. Roger Leslie Edwards

5. Stuart Baker

6. Barry Reginald Egerton

Libertas.eu

1. Robin Charles Matthews

2. Peter Charles Albert Morgan-Barnes

3. Chloe Gwynne

4. Christopher Charnock

5. Nicholas Carlton

6. Nicholas Charles

Socialist Labour Party

1. Robert James Hawkins

2. Brian Andrew Corbett

3. Alison Mary Entwistle

4. David Terence Marchesi

5. Robert Oliver Hawkins

6. James William Bannister

UKIP

1. Bernard Trevor Colman

Westerly

2. William Dartmouth

3. Gawain Howard Wilkinson Towler

4. Julia Reid

5. Alan Stephen Wood

6. Stephanie McWilliam

WaiD

1. Nicola Guagliardo

2. Joy Margaret Skey