European Parliament elections: common principles

and national peculiarities May 2014

Between 22 and 25 May 2014,

the elections for the renewal of the European Parliament

will be held in all 28 EU Member States. With its Decision of 14 June 2013, the Council brought forward the dates of the elections, originally scheduled for June 2014, so as to avoid a clash with the Withsun holidays in some Member States.

European Parliament elections  

A set of common rules…

The procedures for the elections are governed by both the European legislation, which sets out common rules for all Member States, and by specific national provisions:  !   20 September 1976: the Act of the European Council concerning

the election of the European Parliament establishes the direct universal suffrage principle.

!   7 February 1992: the Maastricht Treaty stipulates that elections must take place in accordance with a uniform procedure. Member States, however, do not find an agreement on any of the proposed procedures.

!   2 October 1997: the Treaty of Amsterdam introduces the possibility of adopting “common principles” for the election of the European Parliament. The Council Decision 2002/772/EC accordingly amended the Act of 1976, introducing the principles of proportional representation and the incompatibility between a National office and the European one.

!   13 December 2007: with the Lisbon Treaty, the right to vote and to stand as a candidate acquire the value of fundamental right (Article 39 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union).

   

… and many national differencies

Election procedures are also regulated by national legislation, often considerably differing from each other. Differences relate to: !   the electoral system; !   the possibility to divide the national territory into regional

constituencies; !   the right to vote and to stand; !   the procedure to present candidate lists; !   the possibility for voters to change the order of candidates in the

lists; !   validation of election results; !   the reallocation of seats possibly vacated.

   

Electoral system

Pursuant to the principle of proportional representation introduced in 2002, each Member State may set a minimum threshold for winning seats, which may not exceed 5%.

Italy decided to set

a 4% threshold Rules on the allocation of seats among the lists considerably vary from one State to another.        

Constituency boundaries

The majority of Member States function as a single constituency at European Parliament elections. France, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom have divided their national territory into

regional constituencies In Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland constituencies have also been established, but for administrative and votes distribution purposes only.

Right to vote

Italia 99

Spagna 92

Belgio 91

Lettonia 20

Lituania 22

Estonia 22

In all Member States, voting age is 18, except for Austria where it is 16. Citizens of the Union have the right to vote in the Member States where they resides, even if they are not nationals of that State. Certain States (among which Finland, France, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom) require voters to have usual residence or domicile in their territory, or to be listed in National registers (Belgium and Czech Republic).

… in the Member States

In the case of the United Kingdom, citizens residing abroad are entitled to vote only in certain specific cases (e.g. citizens who have lived abroad for less than 15 years). Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Portugal grant the right to vote to their nationals living abroad only if they are living in another Member State. Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden grant the right to vote to their nationals wherever they live. Germany grants this right to citizens who have lived in another Country for less than 25 years. In Bulgaria, Ireland and Slovakia the right of vote is confined to EU citizens domiciled on their National territory.

Right to stand for elections

To stand for the European Parliament: !   the citizenship of a EU Member State is required. The

United Kingdom also allows citizens of certain Commonwealth Countries to run.

!   The minimum age to stand at the elections is 18 in the majority of Member States. Exceptions are Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom (21), Romania (23), Italy and Cyprus (25).

!   In Luxemburg, a national of another Member States needs two years’ residence at least to be entitled to run. Moreover, a list may not comprise a majority of candidates who are not Luxemburg nationals.

In Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Sweden

only political parties and organisations may submit

candidate lists

In all the other States, candidate lists need to be endorsed by a required number of signatures or electors. In some cases a deposit is required.

Presentation of candidate lists

!   In certain States (including France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom), voters cannot change the order of candidates on lists.

!   In some others (like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Sweden) the order may be altered using transferable votes.

!   In Luxemburg voters may vote candidates from different lists, while in Sweden names may be added or removed from the lists. In Ireland, Malta and Northern Ireland the list system is not used.

Voters’ possibility to alter candidates’ order on lists

!   In Denmark, Germany, Luxemburg and Slovenia, election results are validated by National Parliaments.

!   In Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Slovenia and United Kingdom results are validated by the courts, while in Germany both options are provided.

!   In Spain results are validated by the Junta Electoral Central. In Portugal and Sweden this task is carried out by an ad hoc Committee.

!   In France, disputes concerning the elections are adjudicated by the Conseil d’État, but the Minister of Interior has also the right to do so, should he consider forms and conditions provided by law have not been observed.

In most States, rules on election campaigns (permitted funding, broadcasting time slots, publication of poll results) are those applying to national elections.

Validation of results and campaign rules

Filling of seats vacated during the legislative term

!   In certain States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Croatia,

Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal), seats falling vacant are allocated to the first unelected candidates on the same list.

!   In Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Sweden vacant seats are allocated to substitutes. In Germany, if there are no substitutes, the seats are allocated to unelected candidates from the same list.

!   In the United Kingdom by-elections are held. !   In Greece, vacant seats are allocated to substitutes from the

same list: if there are not enough substitutes, by-elections are held.

!   In Austria and Denmark, MEPs have the right to return to the European Parliament once the reason for their resignation has ceased.