The document summarizes the common rules and national differences regarding European Parliament elections in EU member states. Some key points: - Elections will take place May 22-25, 2014 in all 28 EU countries. Dates were moved up from June to avoid holidays. - Common rules include direct universal suffrage since 1976 and proportional representation since 2002. National laws still differ significantly in areas like electoral systems, constituency boundaries, voter eligibility, and candidate nomination processes. - Most countries function as a single constituency but some like UK, France, Italy divide territory into regional constituencies. Eligible voting age is 18 except 16 in Austria. Rules for citizens voting abroad vary widely. - To stand as a candidate generally

1. European Parliament
elections: common principles
and national peculiarities
May 2014

2. Between 22 and 25 May 2014,
the elections for the renewal
of the European Parliament
will be held in all 28 EU Member States.
With its Decision of 14 June 2013, the Council brought forward
the dates of the elections, originally scheduled for June 2014,
so as to avoid a clash with the Withsun holidays in some Member
States.
European Parliament elections

3. A set of common rules…
The procedures for the elections are governed by both the European
legislation, which sets out common rules for all Member States, and
by specific national provisions:
! 20 September 1976: the Act of the European Council concerning
the election of the European Parliament establishes the direct
universal suffrage principle.
! 7 February 1992: the Maastricht Treaty stipulates that elections must
take place in accordance with a uniform procedure. Member States,
however, do not find an agreement on any of the proposed procedures.
! 2 October 1997: the Treaty of Amsterdam introduces the
possibility of adopting “common principles” for the election of the
European Parliament. The Council Decision 2002/772/EC
accordingly amended the Act of 1976, introducing the principles of
proportional representation and the incompatibility between
a National office and the European one.
! 13 December 2007: with the Lisbon Treaty, the right to vote and to
stand as a candidate acquire the value of fundamental right (Article
39 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union).

4. … and many national differencies
Election procedures are also regulated by national legislation, often
considerably differing from each other.
Differences relate to:
! the electoral system;
! the possibility to divide the national territory into regional
constituencies;
! the right to vote and to stand;
! the procedure to present candidate lists;
! the possibility for voters to change the order of candidates in the
lists;
! validation of election results;
! the reallocation of seats possibly vacated.

5. Electoral system
Pursuant to the principle of proportional representation introduced
in 2002, each Member State may set a minimum threshold for
winning seats, which may not exceed 5%.
Italy decided to set
a 4% threshold
Rules on the allocation of seats among the lists considerably vary
from one State to another.

6. Constituency boundaries
The majority of Member States function as a single constituency
at European Parliament elections.
France, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom have divided their
national territory into
regional constituencies
In Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland constituencies
have also been established, but for administrative and votes
distribution purposes only.

7. Right to vote
Italia 99
Spagna 92
Belgio 91
Lettonia 20
Lituania 22
Estonia 22
In all Member States, voting age is 18, except for Austria where
it is 16.
Citizens of the Union have the right to vote in the Member States
where they resides, even if they are not nationals of that State.
Certain States (among which Finland, France, Poland, Romania,
Sweden and the United Kingdom) require voters to have usual
residence or domicile in their territory, or to be listed in National
registers (Belgium and Czech Republic).

8. … in the Member States
In the case of the United Kingdom, citizens residing abroad
are entitled to vote only in certain specific cases (e.g. citizens
who have lived abroad for less than 15 years).
Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy and Portugal grant the
right to vote to their nationals living abroad only if they are
living in another Member State.
Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain and
Sweden grant the right to vote to their nationals wherever
they live.
Germany grants this right to citizens who have lived in another
Country for less than 25 years.
In Bulgaria, Ireland and Slovakia the right of vote is
confined to EU citizens domiciled on their National territory.

9. Right to stand for elections
To stand for the European Parliament:
! the citizenship of a EU Member State is required. The
United Kingdom also allows citizens of certain Commonwealth
Countries to run.
! The minimum age to stand at the elections is 18 in the
majority of Member States. Exceptions are Belgium, Czech
Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Slovakia and the United Kingdom (21), Romania (23), Italy
and Cyprus (25).
! In Luxemburg, a national of another Member States needs
two years’ residence at least to be entitled to run.
Moreover, a list may not comprise a majority of candidates
who are not Luxemburg nationals.

10. In Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, the
Netherlands and Sweden
only political parties
and organisations may submit
candidate lists
In all the other States, candidate lists need to be endorsed
by a required number of signatures or electors.
In some cases a deposit is required.
Presentation of candidate lists

11. ! In certain States (including France, Germany, Greece,
Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom), voters cannot
change the order of candidates on lists.
! In some others (like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Sweden) the order
may be altered using transferable votes.
! In Luxemburg voters may vote candidates from different
lists, while in Sweden names may be added or removed
from the lists. In Ireland, Malta and Northern Ireland the
list system is not used.
Voters’ possibility to alter
candidates’ order on lists

12. ! In Denmark, Germany, Luxemburg and Slovenia, election
results are validated by National Parliaments.
! In Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Italy,
Ireland, Slovenia and United Kingdom results are validated by
the courts, while in Germany both options are provided.
! In Spain results are validated by the Junta Electoral Central.
In Portugal and Sweden this task is carried out by an ad hoc
Committee.
! In France, disputes concerning the elections are adjudicated
by the Conseil d’État, but the Minister of Interior has also
the right to do so, should he consider forms and conditions
provided by law have not been observed.
In most States, rules on election campaigns (permitted
funding, broadcasting time slots, publication of poll results) are
those applying to national elections.
Validation of results and campaign rules

13. Filling of seats vacated
during the legislative term
! In certain States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Croatia,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal), seats falling
vacant are allocated to the first unelected candidates on the
same list.
! In Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Sweden vacant seats are
allocated to substitutes. In Germany, if there are no
substitutes, the seats are allocated to unelected candidates
from the same list.
! In the United Kingdom by-elections are held.
! In Greece, vacant seats are allocated to substitutes from the
same list: if there are not enough substitutes, by-elections
are held.
! In Austria and Denmark, MEPs have the right to return to
the European Parliament once the reason for their
resignation has ceased.