Brussels, 22/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European elections are being held between 22 and 25 May in the 28 member states of the European Union, to elect 751 MEPs for five years. 388 million Europeans are eligible to vote to elect their representatives to the European Parliament. This will be the eighth round of European elections since the first vote by direct universal suffrage in 1979.
For the first time, the starting gun has been fired in a political race to land the Presidency of the European Commission, as most of the European political parties have candidates standing for the Commission top job. The elections could have a direct influence on the choice of the future president of the European Commission, who will be elected by the Parliament on the basis of a proposal by the European Council.
The elections will take place over several days: Thursday 22 May in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, Friday 23 in Ireland, Friday 23 and Saturday 24 in the Czech Republic, Saturday 24 in Latvia, Slovakia and Malta and Sunday 25 in the other member states. No results can be officially broadcast until the last polling stations close at 11.00pm on Sunday evening in Italy. However, the exit polls will be published in the Netherlands on the evening of 22 May. The European Parliament will publish an initial forecast of numbers of seats at around 9.00pm on Sunday (the first preliminary results at 11.00pm).
751 MEPs. Member states send a number of MEPs on a sliding scale, to take account of their demographic size: from 96 Germany to six for the smallest countries (Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus and Estonia). France votes in 74 MEPs, Italy and the United Kingdom 73 each, Spain 54, Poland 51, etc. The EP is currently made up of 766 members (following the accession of Croatia).
Most countries have a single constituency. 14 EU countries have laid down thresholds of up to 5% for the allocation of seats. In 20 countries, the preferential voting system is used (open list). In total, there are 946 lists featuring 16,351.
The turnout rate, one of the major issues of the elections, has fallen consistently ever since MEPs were first elected by direct universal suffrage. In 1979, it stood at 63%, but fell to just 43% in 2009.
According to certain forecasts, the right wing is expected to do well in 14 states: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia. The Socialists are expected to win out in ten others: Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden. Populist and Eurosceptic parties, on the left and right wing alike, could be victorious in four states: the Danish People's Party in Denmark, Syriza in Greece, Ano 2011 in the Czech Republic and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the United Kingdom. Ano has said that, if successful, it would join the Liberal group. In France, a victory for the Front National is expected.
8 future political groups. The MEPs do not form their groups by nationality, even though national concerns and interests do have a part to play in voting. They come together through political affinity. The outgoing Parliament had seven groups: the EPP (Christian Democrat), the S&D (Social Democrat), ALDE (Liberal), the Greens/EFA (ecological), GUE/NGL (radical Left), ECR (Conservatives, mainly British, Polish and Czech), EFD (Eurosceptics, mainly British and Polish). The extreme right hopes to create an eighth group based around France's Front National and the Dutch People's Party.
Following the European elections, the leaders of the four main European institutions will be replaced, starting with the President of the Commission. In line with the Treaty, the heads of state and government, who are responsible for submitting a name to the EP, have to take account of the results of the elections but are not obliged to select the next Commission boss from the list of five candidates put forward by the European political parties. The other 27 commissioners will then be appointed, one for each state, to include the head EU diplomatic corps. Also up for grabs are the presidencies of the Parliament and of the European Council.
And then what? On Tuesday 27 May, the Conference of the Presidents of the EP (outgoing Presidents and leaders of the political groups) will meet on the same day as an informal European summit to announce the results of the European elections (see EUROPE 11084). In June, the political groups will be formed, with a minimum of 25 MEPs from seven EU member states required for this purpose. The results of the elections will not be officially known until the constitutive session of the EP, to be held in Strasbourg from 1 to 3 July. The constitutive meetings of the parliamentary committees will take place after that, on 7 July.
The election of the president of the European Commission should take place at the plenary session of the EP to be held in Strasbourg from 14 to 17 July. The candidate must have an absolute majority, in other words 376 votes. If rejected, the European Council will have one month to put a different candidate forward. Once the president of the Commission is in place, the states will work with him or her to appoint their commissioners.
1,200 accredited journalists will follow election night from the EP buildings in Brussels. (LC)