European Parliamentary elections will take place across the UK on Thursday 23 May. These elections happen every five years in EU countries. In England, Scotland and Wales you have one vote to elect all of the MEPs for your region.
Each party puts forward a list of candidates – known as a regional list – and you vote for one of these lists or for an individual candidate standing as an independent.
The number of MEPs that are elected from each party to represent a region depends on the overall share of votes that each party receives.
Where do I vote?
Most people vote in person at a local polling station, unless you applied to vote by post or by proxy.
If you are registered to vote you should have received a polling card through the post, which includes the name and address of your designated polling station. If you’re not sure, you can get contact details for your local authority, as well as polling station locations and the list of parties fielding candidates by entering your postcode here.
Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm on the day of the election. You do not need your polling card with you to vote.
What does the European Parliament do?
The European Parliament represents people living in the 28 member countries of the European Union (EU). It has powers in a range of areas that affect member countries and can approve, change or reject new European laws.
The UK is currently represented by 73 MEPs at the European Parliament. There are 12 European electoral regions in the UK and each region is represented by between three and 10 MEPs.
Who can vote in these elections?
To be able to take part in these elections, you must be on the electoral register (the deadline to register in time for the European Parliamentary elections has now passed).
You must also be:
- 18 years of age or over on polling day
- A British citizen, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen, or a citizen of the EU
- Resident in the UK
- Or a UK citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years
- Not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote
If you’re a citizen of an EU country (other than the UK, Republic of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus), you can either vote in the UK or in your home country. You can’t vote twice. You’ll need to be registered to vote and to have submitted a form stating that you wish to vote in the UK and not in your home country (the deadline to do this for the European elections has now passed).
To find out more, please click here.
Posted on Wednesday 22 May 2019