About European Parliamentary Elections  

The area for which a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is elected is called an electoral region. These regions came into effect for the June 1999 elections under the European Parliamentary Elections Act. England is divided into 9 electoral regions.

The District of Hart forms part of the South East Region which elects 10 members to the European Parliament. Elections are held every 5 years, the last election being held on 10th June 2004. For contact details for the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for the South East region, please click here.

Registered political parties will submit a list of candidates not exceeding the number of MEPs to be elected for the region. The candidates are ranked in order to match the number of seats to be filled for the region. Individual candidates may also be nominated. Under the regional list system of voting, a vote may be cast for either a party or an individual candidate.

On completion of the poll, votes for each party or candidate are counted. The first seat is allocated to the party or candidate with the highest number of votes. If a seat is allocated to a party it will go to the first candidate on that party's list. The party's total is then divided by two and the second seat is allocated to the party or candidate with the highest number of votes after the adjustment. The seat is allocated to the next candidate on that party's list who has not gained a seat. This process continues until all the seats have been allocated.

The number of MEPs to be returned for each region is subject to review by the Secretary of State in each year prior to a general election of MEPs. The ratio of electors to MEPs should be as near as possible the same for each region.

In this country, elections for the European Parliament are generally held during June. Whilst voting and verification of the ballot papers takes place on the day of Poll, usually a Thursday, the actual counting of votes cannot be undertaken until polling has finished throughout the European Union on the following Sunday evening.