The 2019 European parliamentary elections fall on Thursday, May 23 in the UK, to decide who will represent the UK in the European Union. As Theresa May has not yet agreed her withdrawal deal with Parliament the UK has to take part in the elections European parliamentary elections take place every five years.
Who can vote in the EU elections?
To vote in the European parliamentary elections in the UK you have to be a British citizen or an EU or Commonwealth citizen resident in the UK.
According to the official European Parliament website: “If you are a British citizen living abroad you can vote at general elections and European elections for up to 15 years after you have left the country.
“As an EU citizen resident in the UK you are allowed to vote at local government, devolved legislature (i.e. Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly) and European parliamentary elections.
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“If you are a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth (including Malta and Cyprus, which are both Commonwealth countries and EU Member States) you can vote in all elections in the UK, provided of course you are resident in the UK.”
You must also be aged 18 or over to vote.
Registrations for voting in the EU elections have already closed as the deadline was Tuesday, May 7.
How do the European parliamentary elections work?
Britain is divided up into 12 regional constituencies, which elect from three to 10 MEPs, depending on the size of their electorate.
Independent participants are treated as parties with a single candidate.
When the votes are counted, the party who has the most votes will take the first seat.
To designate the second and seats that follow, the vote totals are divided by the number of seats parties have gained, plus one.
This means a party’s vote count is halved after obtaining its first seat and reduced by two-thirds after its second, and so on.
