Information on voting in the European Parliament elections

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:00pm

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chrisso50

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Official UK Govt information for British people moving to or living in Spain, including guidance on EU Exit, residency, passports and healthcare.

1:48pm, 30 April 2019 update: Information on voting in the European Parliament elections.

VOTING

Voting after the UK leaves the EU

UK nationals will no longer be able to vote in European elections after [if] the UK leaves the EU.

But UK nationals will still be able to vote and stand as candidates in local elections in Spain.You can vote and stand in local elections. To do so, you must:

register on the municipal register where you live (padrón municipal)
formally declare your intention to vote and register on the local electoral roll
confirm your padrón status every 2 to 5 years to remain registered and be able to vote

This includes the next local elections in May 2019, as long as you registered on the electoral roll before 30 January 2018.

You can go to your local town hall and check your padrón status and the municipal electoral roll at any time.

European Parliament elections on 23 May

The UK Government wants to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement on our departure from the EU by 23 May. In that scenario, there will be no European Parliament elections in the UK, UK nationals won’t be able to vote in EP elections, and the UK will leave the EU on 1 June.

But there is a possibility that we will participate in the EP elections. As a UK national living in Spain, you can choose to vote in your home country OR in your country of residence. If you have spent less than 15 years out of the UK, you can vote for UK candidates in the EU elections as long as you register in the UK [using the constituency that you previously lived in] before 7 May. If you are already registered to vote in Spain (the deadline was 30 January 2019), you can vote here for the Spanish candidates for the EP. But you cannot vote in both countries.

Read more information on voting in the European Parliament elections

Read more about how to register as an overseas voter

You cannot vote in general or regional elections in Spain but you may be able to vote in some UK elections [and referendums]. You can:

check if you are able to vote
register as an overseas voter if you would like to vote

.

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Posted: Thu May 9, 2019 8:44pm

chrisso50

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Posted: Thu May 9, 2019 8:44pm

The current breakdown of seats (elected in 2014) is as follows:
Labour Party 18
Tory Party 18
Brexit Party 14 (many Ukip MEPs transferred to this party in recent months)
Independent 5
UKIP 3
Green Party (E&W) 3
CH-UK 2
SNP (Scotland) 2
PC (Wales) 1
Lib Dems 1
Sinn Féin (Ireland) 1
UUP (Ireland) 1
DUP (Ireland) 1
SDP 1
VACANT 2
Total: 73

So the current MEP situation is:
Remain=10 MEPs (support a Final Say Referendum)
Brexit=43 MEPs (from Brexit party, Ukip, Tories, DUP, UUP, SDP)
'Schrodinger Tendency' [Labour]=18 MEPs
Vacant=2 MEPs

HISTORY OF TURNOUT AND VOTES ...
(The UK has always had a worse than average EU turnout in EU elections)
2014 Turnout 36%. Ukip got 27% of the vote, Labour 24%, Tories 23%, Greens 6.9%, LD 6.6%

2009 Turnout 35%. Ukip got 27% of the vote, Tories 16%, Labour 15%, LD 13%, Greens 8%, (BNP 6% and 2 seats)

2004 Turnout 39%. Tories got 26% of the vote, Labour 22%, Ukip 16%, LD 14%, Greens 6%

1999 Turnout 24% (worst in the EU). Tories got 34% of the vote, Labour 26%, LD 12%, Ukip 7%, Greens 5%
[Electoral system used: the D'Hondt method or Jefferson method was now applied in Great Britain for the first time: a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. In N. Ireland the STV method continued to be used. The result was that the LibDems, Ukip and Greens now all got seats.]

1994 Turnout 36%. Labour got 43% of the vote, Tories got 27%, LD 16%, (Greens 3% but no seats).
[Electoral system used was FPTP in England, Scotland and Wales and STV in Northern Ireland).

1989 Turnout 36% (worst in the EU). Labour got 39% of the vote, Tories got 34%, (Greens 15% but no seats).
[Electoral system used was FPTP in England, Scotland and Wales and STV in Northern Ireland).

1984 Turnout 33% (worst in the EU). Tories got 39% of the vote, Labour got 35%, (SDP 6% but no seats; Ecology party 1% and no seats).
[Electoral system used was FPTP in England, Scotland and Wales and STV in Northern Ireland).

1979 Turnout 33% (worst in the EU). Tories got 48% of the vote, Labour got 32%, (Liberals 13% but no seats).
[Electoral system used was FPTP in England, Scotland and Wales and STV in Northern Ireland).