There will be 72 MEPs representing the United Kingdom. This is a reduction from the 78 we currently have.
2) What constituency are you in?
A difficult question for me to answer since I do not know where you are but the constituencies in the UK are:
London
South East England
South West England
West Midlands
North West England
North East England
Yorkshire and the Humber
East Midlands
East of England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
3) How many MEP are elected to represent that constituency?
| Constituency | Seats | Pop. | per Seat |
| London | 8* | 7.4m | 925k |
| South East England | 10 | 8m | 800k |
| South West England | 6* | 4.9m | 817k |
| West Midlands | 6* | 5.2m | 867k |
| North West England | 8* | 6.7m | 838k |
| North East England | 3 | 2.5m | 833k |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 6 | 5.1m | 850k |
| East Midlands | 5* | 4.1m | 820k |
| East of England | 7 | 5.4m | 771k |
| Northern Ireland | 3 | 1.7m | 567k |
| Scotland | 6 | 5m | 833k |
| Wales | 4 | 3m | 750k |
| Total | 72 | 58.7m | 819k |
* One seat less than in 2004.
Compare this with the table at Wikipedia
4) How many votes do you have?
If you are eligible to vote then you will be able to cast one vote.
5) What will you see listed on the ballot paper?
You will see the names of the parties that are fielding candidates. Unlike national and local elections you will not see the names of the candidates.
6) How do they determine who will represent you when all the votes have been counted?
The system is known as the d'Hondt method, d'Hondt being the surname of the Belgian mathematician who devised the technique. The best way to explain the method is to work through an example. Don't be put off it is really quite simple.
Click on image for larger version.
1 comment:
Hi Paul,
In reference to the d'Hondt method, are the parties lists of candidates publicly published prior to the election i.e. will we know at least a few individuals that are likely to be elected?
Cheers,
Brad
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