Are you ready for the European elections?
In a few weeks’ time voters around the UK will go to the polls to vote for the MEPs they wish to represent them in the European Parliament for the next 5 years. Despite the highly publicised debates between Nigel Farage and Nick Clegg, voters still seem unclear exactly what they’re voting for. A poll taken a couple of weeks after the second debate showed a level of apathy among voters that hasn’t been seen since the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Only 16% knew when the elections are being held, and only 7% could name any of their MEPs or even knew how many MEPs the UK currently has. I can’t criticise because I didn’t know any better so I thought it about time I educate myself and maybe do my part to help improve these figures by explaining a bit about the European Parliament and the voting process.
Before I begin I should say that this is a learning experience for me and while I’m obviously going to take every effort to be correct in my statements, I may end up getting something wrong. If I have please let me know and I’ll correct it.
I’m going to try and answer the following questions:
• What is the European Parliament?
• What is an MEP and what do they do?
• How many MEPs does the UK have?
• How do we vote for them?
What is the European Parliament?
According to its website,
I don’t deny that this looks complicated, but when you’re trying to create an organisation that unites 28 countries with competing interests complication is inevitable.
What is an MEP and what do they do?
So we know, roughly, how the EP fits within the organisational framework of the EU but we’re still a bit vague on how it works and what MEPs actually do. Their working year is split into four main activities:
• Sessions
• Committees
• Groups
• Constituency weeks
Sessions are the parliamentary times, when MEPs gather to debate and vote on legislation. This is done in Strasbourg, while other parliamentary business is conducted in Brussels.
Committees are where Reports, Opinions and Amendments are discussed and written in order to initiate and inform legislation. There are currently 20 committees and two sub-committees, ranging from Budgetary Control and International Trade to Culture and Education and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
Groups are the political parties of the EP. Although MEPs are elected as members of their national parties, for example, Conservative or Labour, when they get to the Parliament these parties give them very little clout. However, there are other people from different countries with similar political leanings and ideologies so they form “Groups” to give them power in numbers. There are eight groups that cover the political spectrum and almost every MEP is a member of a group, usually, but not always, following the lead of their party.
Constituency weeks are, as they sound, weeks when MEPs can return to their home countries to visit their constituency and hold Surgeries to hear from their constituents.
So MEPs do a similar job to MPs. They discuss and write potential legislation, debate and vote on actual legislation, try to further their Group’s aims, and try and represent their constituents.
How many MEPs does the UK have?
The UK has 73 MEPs, 25 Conservatives, 12 Labour, 12 LibDems, 11 UKIP and the remainder from other minor parties. The Conservatives have largely allied with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Labour with the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, the LibDems with Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and UKIP with the Europe of freedom and democracy Group (they like long-winded names for some reason).
How do we vote for them?
Our country is split into 12 regions and each region is allocated a number of MEPs, ranging from 3 to 10 depending on the population size. The difference between the European elections and our national and local elections is that instead of voting for a person we will vote for a party, a method called the Closed Party List. We can also vote for independents if any are running and they are considered their own party.
Each party fields a number of candidates. In the upcoming election just over 400 people are running: 64 for each of the three main parties, 59 for UKIP, 67 for the Green party and 98 for other parties (data collected from here). The party will rank their representatives so that if they get enough of the vote to elect one person, the person ranked first gets elected. If they get enough votes for two, the first and second ranked people get elected, and so on.
This is where it gets a bit tricky. The party with the most votes gets the most seats but the precise method of allocation uses the D’Hondt method. It ensures that the most popular parties are elected in the majority but divides their vote by the number of seats so that it prevents excessive domination by any one party.
Closing Remarks
I hope that this has helped to explain the upcoming elections. I know I haven’t got into why this matters but I’m planning on writing a post or two on the EU and why it’s important but first I need to do some serious reading. Turns out it’s all a bit complicated!
In the meantime, find out who your candidates are (the ones for the South West are here and the right-hand sidebar gives links to the other regions). Check you’re registered to vote and then make sure you make your voice heard on the 22nd May.
Before I begin I should say that this is a learning experience for me and while I’m obviously going to take every effort to be correct in my statements, I may end up getting something wrong. If I have please let me know and I’ll correct it.
I’m going to try and answer the following questions:
• What is the European Parliament?
• What is an MEP and what do they do?
• How many MEPs does the UK have?
• How do we vote for them?
What is the European Parliament?
According to its website,
“The European Parliament is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. The 766 Members of the European Parliament are there to represent you, the citizen. They are elected once every five years by voters right across the 28 Member States of the European Union on behalf of its 500 million citizens.”While that’s all very nice sounding it really doesn’t tell us very much. More specifically, the European Parliament, which I’m going to abbreviate to EP from now on, works with the Council of the European Union (sometimes called the Council of Ministers) and the European Commission to create and enact legislation.
[Source]
I don’t deny that this looks complicated, but when you’re trying to create an organisation that unites 28 countries with competing interests complication is inevitable.
What is an MEP and what do they do?
So we know, roughly, how the EP fits within the organisational framework of the EU but we’re still a bit vague on how it works and what MEPs actually do. Their working year is split into four main activities:
• Sessions
• Committees
• Groups
• Constituency weeks
Sessions are the parliamentary times, when MEPs gather to debate and vote on legislation. This is done in Strasbourg, while other parliamentary business is conducted in Brussels.
Committees are where Reports, Opinions and Amendments are discussed and written in order to initiate and inform legislation. There are currently 20 committees and two sub-committees, ranging from Budgetary Control and International Trade to Culture and Education and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
Groups are the political parties of the EP. Although MEPs are elected as members of their national parties, for example, Conservative or Labour, when they get to the Parliament these parties give them very little clout. However, there are other people from different countries with similar political leanings and ideologies so they form “Groups” to give them power in numbers. There are eight groups that cover the political spectrum and almost every MEP is a member of a group, usually, but not always, following the lead of their party.
Constituency weeks are, as they sound, weeks when MEPs can return to their home countries to visit their constituency and hold Surgeries to hear from their constituents.
So MEPs do a similar job to MPs. They discuss and write potential legislation, debate and vote on actual legislation, try to further their Group’s aims, and try and represent their constituents.
How many MEPs does the UK have?
The UK has 73 MEPs, 25 Conservatives, 12 Labour, 12 LibDems, 11 UKIP and the remainder from other minor parties. The Conservatives have largely allied with the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Labour with the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, the LibDems with Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and UKIP with the Europe of freedom and democracy Group (they like long-winded names for some reason).
How do we vote for them?
Our country is split into 12 regions and each region is allocated a number of MEPs, ranging from 3 to 10 depending on the population size. The difference between the European elections and our national and local elections is that instead of voting for a person we will vote for a party, a method called the Closed Party List. We can also vote for independents if any are running and they are considered their own party.
Each party fields a number of candidates. In the upcoming election just over 400 people are running: 64 for each of the three main parties, 59 for UKIP, 67 for the Green party and 98 for other parties (data collected from here). The party will rank their representatives so that if they get enough of the vote to elect one person, the person ranked first gets elected. If they get enough votes for two, the first and second ranked people get elected, and so on.
This is where it gets a bit tricky. The party with the most votes gets the most seats but the precise method of allocation uses the D’Hondt method. It ensures that the most popular parties are elected in the majority but divides their vote by the number of seats so that it prevents excessive domination by any one party.
Closing Remarks
I hope that this has helped to explain the upcoming elections. I know I haven’t got into why this matters but I’m planning on writing a post or two on the EU and why it’s important but first I need to do some serious reading. Turns out it’s all a bit complicated!
In the meantime, find out who your candidates are (the ones for the South West are here and the right-hand sidebar gives links to the other regions). Check you’re registered to vote and then make sure you make your voice heard on the 22nd May.
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