Elections in the European Union

The hemicycle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Elections to the Parliament of the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. 736 MEPs are elected to the European Parliament which has been directly elected since 1979. No other body is directly elected, although the Council of the European Union and European Council are largely composed of nationally elected officials. Europarties have the exclusive right to campaign EU-wide for the European elections.

Voting system

Further information: Apportionment in the European Parliament

There is no uniform voting system for the election of MEPs; rather, each member state is free to choose its own system, subject to three restrictions:

• The system must be a form of proportional representation, under either the party list or the single transferable vote system.
• The electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the proportional nature of the voting system.
• Any election threshold at the national level must not exceed five percent.

The allocation of seats to each member state is based on the principle of degressive proportionality, so that, while the size of the population of each country is taken into account, smaller states elect more MEPs than is proportional to their populations. As the numbers of MEPs to be elected by each country have arisen from treaty negotiations, there is no precise formula for the apportionment of seats among member states. No change in this configuration can occur without the unanimous consent of all governments.

European Parliament Apportionment changes between the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Lisbon (as calculated for purposes of the 2009 European Elections)
Member state	2007 Nice	2009 Nice	2014 Lisbon		Member state	2007 Nice	2009 Nice	2014 Lisbon		Member state	2007 Nice	2009 Nice	2014 Lisbon
Germany	99	99	96		Czech Republic	24	22	22		Slovakia	14	13	13
France	78	72	74		Greece	24	22	22		Ireland	13	12	12
United Kingdoma	78	72	73		Hungary	24	22	22		Lithuania	13	12	12
Italy	78	72	73		Portugal	24	22	22		Latvia	9	8	9
Spain	54	50	54		Sweden	19	18	20		Slovenia	7	7	8
Poland	54	50	51		Austria	18	17	19		Cyprus	6	6	6
Romania	35	33	33		Bulgaria	18	17	18		Estonia	6	6	6
Netherlands	27	25	26		Finland	14	13	13		Luxembourg	6	6	6
Belgium	24	22	22		Denmark	14	13	13		Malta	5	5	6
a Includes Gibraltar, but not any other BOT, SBA or Crown dependency b The speaker is not counted officially, thus leaving 750 MEPs. Italicised countries are divided into sub-national constiuencies										Total:	785	736	751b

Country by Country

Most of the member states of the European Union elect their MEPs with a single constituency covering the entire state, using party-list proportional representation. There is however a great variety of electoral procedures: some countries use the highest averages method of proportional representation, some use the largest remainder method, some open lists and others closed. In addition, the method of calculating the quota and the election threshold vary from country to country. Countries with multiple constituencies are:

• Belgium is split into 3 constiuencies: the Dutch-speaking electoral college, the French-speaking electoral college, and the German-speaking electoral college. The first two of these elect their MEPs using party list PR, but the German-speaking constituency only has 1 member, who is therefore not elected by a proportional method.
• France is split into 8 constituencies, each electing its members by party list PR.
• Republic of Ireland is split into 4 three member constituencies and uses the Single transferable vote.
• Malta^{[citation needed]}, where MEPs are elected by single transferable vote.
• The United Kingdom is split into constituencies representing Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and each of the regions of England. Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote, as is used in the Republic of Ireland and in other elections in Northern Ireland; the constituencies on Great Britain use party lists.

Germany, Italy and Poland use a different system, whereby parties are awarded seats based on their nationwide vote as in all of the states which elect members from a single constituency; these seats are given to the candidates on regional lists. With the number of seats for each party known, these are given to the candidates on the regional lists based on the number of votes from each region towards the party's nationwide total, awarded proportionally to the regions. These subdivisions are not strictly constituencies, as they do not decide how many seats each party is awarded, but are districts that the members represent once elected. The number of members for each region is decided dynamically after the election, and depends on voter turnout in each region. A region with high turnout will result in more votes for the parties there, which will result in a greater number of MEPs elected for that region.

Europarties

Main article: European political party

Main article: Political groups of the European Parliament

The European Union has a multi-party system involving a number of ideologically diverse Europarties. As no one Europarty has ever gained power alone, their affiliated parliamentary groups must work with each other to pass legislation. Since no pan-European government is formed as a result of the European elections, long-term coalitions have never occurred.

Europarties have the exclusive right to campaign for the European elections; their parliamentary groups are strictly forbidden to campaign and to spend funds on any campaign-related activity. With the Lisbon Treaty now in force, Europarties are now obliged to put forward a candidate for President of the European Commission; each Presidential candidate will lead the pan-European campaign of the Europarty.

The two major parties are the centre-right European People's Party and the Party of European Socialists. They form the two largest groups, (called EPP and S&D respectively) along with other smaller parties. There are numerous other groups, including communists, greens, regionalists, conservatives, Liberals and eurosceptics. Together they form the seven recognised groups in the parliament. MEPs that are not members of groups are known as non-inscrits.

Voter behaviour

Analysts contend that European elections are fought on national issues, and used by voters to punish their governments mid-term. Turnout has also been falling steadily since the first elections in 1979, indicating increased apathy about the Parliament despite its increase in power over that period. The turnout is an increasingly important issue. Despite falling below 50% since 1999, turnout is not yet as low as that of the US Midterm elections which usually falls below 40%. The turnout has fallen in every EU election since the first. In 2009, the overall turnout was just 43%, down from 45.5% in 2004. In Britain the turnout was just 34.3%, down from 38% in 2004.

However that situation is not criticised so much due to the fact the US President is elected separately, whereas the EU Commission President is appointed. Some such as former Parliament president Pat Cox has also noted that the 1999 election turnout was higher than the previous US Presidential election. It is hoped though that by more closely linking that post to the elections, turnout should increase.

Results

List of previous elections

2009 – EU 27 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania 2004 – EU 25 1999 – EU 15 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden 1994 – EU 12 1989 – EC 12 1987 – Portugal and Spain 1984 – EC 10 1981 – Greece 1979 – EC 9

List of European Parliament elections by state

Historical percentage results in union-wide elections of the three major groups by region.

REGION	1979	1984	1989	1994	1999	2004	2009
	3.6	6.3	6.3	22	35.3	31.2	10.9
Northern	3.6	2.7	4.5	6.8	16.7	18.1	20.3
	23.2	33	45.5	56.8	27.6	23.9	21
	33.6	30.9	26.7	31.9	36.4	34.9	37.3
Western	6.5	10.6	12	8.5	5.2	11.9	12.5
	34.1	32.7	32.7	29.9	27.9	30.2	20.8
	37	34.3	29.6	25.9	39.8	38.2	45.2
Southern	6.2	4.8	9.5	8.5	5	7.9	5
	16	21	29.1	29.9	30.8	33	35
	-	-	-	-	-	46.4	41
Central and South-Eastern	-	-	-	-	-	14.3	10
	-	-	-	-	-	21.4	23.7
	26	25.3	23.4	27.7	37.2	36.9	36
Total	9.8	7.1	9.5	7.6	8	12.4	11.4
	27.6	30	34.2	34.9	28.8	28.3	25
Turnout	63	61	58.5	56.8	49.4	45.5	43

Legend:   [     ] Socialist (PES/S&D) – [     ] Liberal (ELDR/ALDE) – [     ] People's (EPP/EPP-ED)

Proposed reforms

As of 2011 reforms by Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff are being considered by Parliament which are seen as the most significant overhaul of the electoral system since elections began. 25 extra MEPs would be added on a transnational European list with its candidates being selected by the European party groups rather than national member parties. The candidate lists would have to represent a third of member states and are seen as a way to personalise and dramatise the elections to re-engage an apathetic electorate. Duff sees the next Commission President possibly coming from the transnational list. Duff's proposals also include a single electoral roll, regular reapportioning of seats, one set of immunity rules and the holding of elections in May rather than June. However, due to a waning of support and possible opposition from member states, Duff has taken the proposal back to committee to get broader support before putting them before the plenary in autumn 2011.

Commission President

Election	Largest Group	President	Party
1994	PES	Jacques Santer	EPP
1999	EPP-ED	Romano Prodi	PES
2004	EPP	José Manuel Barroso	EPP
2009	EPP	José Manuel Barroso	EPP

The third Delors Commission had a short mandate, to bring the terms of the Commission in line with that of the Parliament. Under the European Constitution the European Council would have to take into account the results of the latest European elections and, furthermore, the Parliament would ceremonially "elect", rather than simply approve, the Council's proposed candidate. This was taken as the parliament's cue to have its parties run with candidates for the President of the European Commission with the candidate of the winning party being proposed by the Council.

This was partly put into practice in 2004 when the European Council selected a candidate from the political party which won that year's election. However at that time only one party had run with a specific candidate: the European Green Party, who had the first true pan-European political party with a common campaign, put forward Daniel Cohn-Bendit. However the fractious nature of the other political parties led to no other candidates, the People's Party only mentioned four or five people they'd like to be President. The Constitution failed ratification but these amendments have been carried over to the Treaty of Lisbon which came into force in 2009.

There are plans to strengthen the European political parties in order for them to propose candidates for the 2009 election. The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party have already indicated, in their October 2007 congress, their intention for forward a candidate for the post as part of a common campaign. They failed to do so however the European People's Party did select Barroso as their candidate and, as the largest party, Barroso's turn was renewed. The Socialists, disappointed at the 2009 election, agreed to put forward a candidate for Commission President at all subsequent elections. There is a campaign within that party to have open primaries for said candidate.

In February 2008, President Barroso admitted there was a problem in legitimacy and that, despite having the same legitimacy as Prime Ministers in theory, in practice it was not the case. The low turnout creates a problem for the President's legitimacy, with the lack of a "European political sphere", but analysis claim that if citizens were voting for a list of candidates for the post of president, turn out would be much higher than that seen in recent years.

With the Lisbon Treaty now in-force, Europarties are obliged from now-on to put forward a candidate for President of the European Commission; each Presidential candidate will, in fact, lead the pan-European campaign of the Europarty.

The President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek proposed in 2010 that Commissioners be directly elected, by member states placing their candidate at the top of their voting lists in European elections. That would give them individually, and the body as a whole, a democratic mandate.

See also

European Union

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the European Union

Parliament President Martin Schulz Largest groups; Joseph Daul: EPP María Badía (Interim): S&D 7th session MEPs (736) 2009-14 term Bureau Vice Presidents Quaestor Conference Legislative procedure

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy Parties List of meetings

Council Presidency Ireland Configurations General Foreign Economic Euro Legislative procedure Voting Secretariat Secretary-General Uwe Corsepius COREPER

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External links

• Section devoted to the 2009 election on the European Parliament website
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• European Election Studies
• The European Parliament and Supranational Party System (Cambridge University Press 2002)
• Archive of European Integration (AEI) > Institutional Administration, Developments & Reform > Parliament > Elections