The electoral process for electing members to the European Parliament is a crucial aspect of European democracy. The regulations are established both at the European Union level, through treaties and directives, and at the national level, which leads to a diversity of practices and procedures in the member states. In this article, the European Way has explored the voting procedures for the European Parliament elections, starting with the legal basis and ending with the concrete aspects of the right to vote and stand, as well as the dates and manner of holding the elections.
Legal basis and fundamental principles
The basic principles governing European Parliament elections are set out in the founding treaties of the European Union, such as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), as well as in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. They enshrine the right to vote and stand as fundamental for the citizens of the European Union.
Through the Act of 20 September 1976 on the election of members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, the transformation of the European Parliament into an institution directly elected by European citizens is confirmed. This act represented a significant step in the democratization of the European Union and laid the foundations for a standardized electoral process.
Common procedures in force
1. The right to vote and stand for election for EU citizens: Any citizen of the Union residing in a Member State has the right to vote and be elected in elections to the European Parliament in that State. These rights are governed by directives such as Directive 93/109/EC and may vary by country.
2. Electoral system: European elections are based on the principle of proportional representation and can use various electoral systems, such as list systems or single transferable vote. Electoral thresholds are set to ensure representativeness and may vary between countries, but a mandatory minimum threshold of 2% – 5% is imposed for constituencies with more than 35 seats.
Currently, the following Member States apply thresholds: France, Belgium, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Latvia and Hungary (5%); Austria, Italy and Sweden (4%); Greece (3 %) and Cyprus (1.8 %). The other member states do not apply any threshold, although Germany tried to do so, but in two decisions in 2011 and 2014, the German Constitutional Court declared the thresholds for Germany’s European elections existing at the time (which were initially 5%, then by 3 %) as unconstitutional.
3. Incompatibilities: The office of Member of the European Parliament is incompatible with certain other offices, such as that of a member of the government of a member state or member of the European Commission.
Aspects subject to national provisions
1. Electoral system and thresholds: Each member state can adapt the electoral system according to its own norms and rules. Some states apply electoral thresholds, while others do not.
2. Constituency boundaries: Some states divide their national territory into several regional constituencies, while others operate as a single constituency.
3. The right to vote: The minimum voting age varies between states, and in some countries voting is compulsory.
The minimum voting age is 18 in most Member States, with the exception of Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, where this age is 16, and Greece, where it is 17.
Voting is compulsory in five member states (Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Cyprus and Greece): the obligation to vote applies both to citizens of these states and to registered EU citizens who are not nationals of that state.
4. Right to candidacy: Candidacy may be open to citizens or political parties, depending on national legislation.
5. Dates of elections: The date and time of elections are set by each member state.
The Netherlands will start elections on Thursday, June 6, followed by Ireland, where voting takes place on Friday, June 7, and Latvia, Malta and Slovakia, where voting will take place on Saturday, June 8. In the Czech Republic, polls will be open on Friday and Saturday, while in Italy voting will take place on Saturday and Sunday. The other 20 countries of the Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Hungary) will organize the elections European on Sunday, June 9.
The election results will be available in real time on the site dedicated to the election (https://results.elections.europa.eu/ro/)
6. Number of MEPs elected: The number of MEPs elected from each EU state is agreed before each election and is based on the principle of degressive proportionality, according to which each MEP from a larger country represents more citizens than a MEP from a smaller country.
The total number of MEPs cannot exceed 750 plus the president. In total, 720 MEPs will be elected in June 2024, 15 more than in the previous elections, organized in 2019.
The number of MEPs that will be elected by each state in June 2024 is: Germany 96, France 81, Italy 76, Spain 61, Poland 53, Romania 33, the Netherlands 31, Belgium 22, Greece, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal and Hungary 21 each , Austria 20, Bulgaria 17, Denmark, Finland and Slovakia 15 each, Ireland 14, Croatia 12, Lithuania 11, Slovenia and Latvia 9 each, Estonia 7, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta 6 each.
MEPs form political groups according to their political affinities, not their nationality. Each group is constituted by a minimum of 23 MEPs from at least a quarter of the European Union countries. A deputy can belong to only one political group. Some MEPs are not part of any political group, being, in this case, unaffiliated.
There are currently seven political groups within the European Parliament: the Group of the European People’s Party (EPP), the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), the Renew Europe Group, the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/ALE), The Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the Group of Identity and Democracy (ID) and the Group of the Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL).
The legal framework in Romania
According to Law no. 33/2007 on the organization and conduct of elections for the European Parliament, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, in Romania, the 33 MEPs are elected by direct universal suffrage by all EU citizens registered on the electoral rolls and over 18 years of age.
The voting takes place in a single electoral district, based on the principle of proportional representation and based on independent candidacies. Romania uses a system of closed lists, which does not allow changing the order number of the candidates on the list.
For political parties, organizations of citizens belonging to national minorities, political alliances and electoral alliances, the electoral threshold for awarding mandates represents 5% of the total valid votes cast, at the national level.
Romanian citizens or citizens of other EU member states who have the right to be elected and are supported by at least 100,000 voters can run as independents.
Independent candidates can be assigned mandates if they obtained, each separately, a number of valid votes cast at least equal to the national electoral coefficient. The national electoral coefficient represents the whole part of the ratio between the total number of validly cast votes and the number of mandates of European parliamentarians belonging to Romania.
According to Law 33/2007, the allocation of mandates in the EP is done in two stages.
In the first stage, the Central Electoral Bureau calculates the electoral threshold and the national electoral coefficient and establishes, in descending order of the number of valid votes cast, the list of parties, political alliances, electoral alliances and independent candidates to whom mandates can be allocated.
In the second stage, mandates are distributed at the level of the national constituency for the lists selected by the d’Hondt method. This method of distribution of mandates consists in dividing the votes validly expressed for each list and independent candidate, selected under the conditions provided for in letter a), at 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. up to the total number of mandates to be distributed, and the ranking of these numbers in descending order. The number of mandates allocated to each individual list corresponds to the total number of quotas related to each list contained in the ordered string, until all the mandates are distributed.
The independent candidate who would have at least one mandate is allocated a single seat, regardless of how many mandates resulted from the calculation, it is also provided in the mentioned law.
