Elections, the people, and the European Parliament

5 important questions on Elections, the people, and the European Parliament

How often are elections to the EP held?

Every five years.

Why are the rules governing European elections different from those that typically apply to national elections?

Because EU citizens resident in another EU state (for example, Bulgarians living in Germany) are entitled to vote in local and European elections, but not in national elections. Citizens resident in an EU state can also stand for election even if they are a non-national.

Since 1999, European elections have been conducted on the basis of proportional representation (PR) across the whole EU, although there are differences between the member states in the sytems that they use. What is PR?

PR is a form of electoral system that attempts to match the proportion a seats won by a political party with the proportion of the total vote for that party.
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What may provide a partial explanation for the EP's declining popularity and legitimacy, as indicated by the fall in turnout at successive European elections?

Where MEPs represent a large constituency, it is challenging to build a relationship between the elected politician and the citizen.

How can we explain this poor turnout at European elections, particularly as public opinion surveys show that the EP is best known and the most trusted of the EU institutions?

- One potential explanation is that European elections are second-order, so they are viewed as less important than national elections and voters may use them to express dissatisfaction with the governing party of the state.
- Parties also contribute to the problem: election campaigns are organized and financed by domestic political parties rather than by the European political groups. Thus candidates do not seek re-election as a member of the S&D or EPP, but as a French socialist or a German Christian Democrat.
- Moreover, the parties often campaign on natonal, rather that genuinely European, platforms.

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