50.5% of European went to the polls for the 2019 European elections, the European Parliament announced on Sunday 26 May at the end of the election, 8 points more than in 2014 (42.61%).
This rate is the hightest in 20 years and has risen for the first time since the 1979 elections, when turnout was 61.99%. Since these first elections by universal suffrage 40 years ago, voter turnout has been steadily declining.
This participation “shows that people have realised the importance of the elections”, said Gabi Zimmer, President of the GUE/NGL group in Germany. “European democracy is alive”, said Christian Democratic Spitzenkandidat Manfred Weber of Germany, while for ALDE group President Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, these elections show that “Europe is back, Europe is popular”.
In many countries, the participation rate rose by about 10 points or more, as in Germany to 59% and France (54%) and by 20 points in Spain (64.36%). It nearly doubled in Poland, from 23.83% to 43%.
In the United Kingdom, the participation rate increased by 1.4 points to 37%.
On the other hand, it decreased in Portugal, Ireland and Malta, among other countries.
But participation is highly disparate, ranging from 22.74% in Slovakia to 89.64% in Belgium, where voting is mandatory. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with SPj)