Making the Most of Your Vote

the European Parliamentary elections are different than a local or General election. Because of the proportional voting system used for electing MEPs:

your vote counts

• every vote is important.
• you have a much higher likelihood of affecting the result, no matter where you live.
• the candidates are the same across the region, so there are no differences across wards - even if your ward traditionally favours one particular party, your vote can still make a difference across the region

vote your values

• you can vote for the party you really believe in; for the agenda you want advanced in/by Europe.
• you have a higher chance of ending up being represented (in your region) by a party you voted for.

vote to reduce the chances of extremists being elected

• the higher the turnout, the harder it likely becomes for extremist parties to win seats.
• if people don't go out and vote, the greater the risk of an extremist party, with a small but committed base of support gaining representation. Whose voice do you want in the European Parliament: their voice or yours?

How MEPs are elected

Each region has a certain number of MEPs dependent on its population size. Parties put up a list of candidates and then win seats roughly in proportion to their share of the vote. It works like this: the party with the most votes in a region wins the first seat (which goes to the name on the top of their list). The remaining seats in the region are then allocated between the parties based on a simple formula which ensures that the number of votes needed to elect an MEP is broadly the same across the parties.