European Parliament

• European Parliamentary elections in the UK use the Regional List System, a form of Proportional Representation (PR). This differs from the UK’s First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system.
• Electing Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)

  1. European elections occur every five years, with the UK electing 73 MEPs. There are 12 electoral regions, and each party submits a ranked list of candidates for each region.
  2. Seats are allocated using proportional representation—votes are counted, and the seats are filled from the top of each party’s candidate list.
• Impact on Representation

  • The total 751 MEPs in the European Parliament are distributed based on each country’s population.
  • PR allows smaller parties to gain seats fairly. In contrast, FPTP can result in parties winning fewer seats despite significant votes.
  • Example: In the 2015 General Election, UKIP won only one seat with 12.6% of the vote, whereas under PR in the 2014 European Election, UKIP gained the most MEPs.
• Strengths of the Regional List System

  ✔ Fairer to minority parties and independent candidates.

  ✔ Represents a wider range of views in Parliament.

  ✔ Fewer wasted votes and less tactical voting.
• Weaknesses of the Regional List System

  ✘ Votes are for a party, not an individual candidate.

  ✘ Minority parties elected may have extreme views.

  ✘ Too much choice could reduce voter turnout.
• Parties in the European Parliament

  • The party with the most MEPs influences the Commission President’s role.
  • MEPs form alliances with parties that match their political ideologies.
• Identify one advantage and one disadvantage of PR.

  • pro-more representative of minority parties
  • con-minority parties elected may have extremist views