Does each member state of the European Union use the same electoral system?
No – not exactly. It was originally envisaged that they would use a common system but agreement on what that system would be could not be reached. The Treaty of Amsterdam then introduced the possibility of election by systems with common principles. This was adopted in 1998 and the common principle agreed is proportionality. What system does the UK use and what happens to my vote? The UK uses a Closed List system – described in our parallel article: The European Parliament – limits to democracy. Votes cast in this system are then progressively allocated to seats as parties reach quotas set by the D’Hondt method the UK has adopted. How does this work? It actually makes quite an enjoyable puzzle to set yourself (and we talk you through one below). There are a series of rounds where formulas are applied to the numbers of votes cast for each party. Each round sees at least one party win a seat – and it can be more if two or more parties arrive at the same total. These rounds continue until
No – not exactly. It was originally envisaged that they would use a common system but agreement on what that system would be could not be reached. The Treaty of Amsterdam then introduced the possibility of election by systems with common principles. This was adopted in 1998 and the common principle agreed is proportionality. What system does the UK use and what happens to my vote? The UK uses a Closed List system – described in our parallel article: The European Parliament – limits to democracy. Votes cast in this system are then progressively allocated to seats as parties reach quotas set by the D’Hondt method the UK has adopted. How does this work? It actually makes quite an enjoyable puzzle to set yourself (and we talk you through one below). There are a series of rounds where formulas are applied to the numbers of votes cast for each party. Each round sees at least one party win a seat – and it can be more if two or more parties arrive at the same total. These rounds continue until
