Do you have questions about the upcoming European elections? This explainer is for you.
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00:00The European Parliament elections are being held in June.
00:03It is the only directly elected institution of the European Union.
00:07But how exactly do these elections work?
00:09First, let's talk about the electoral process.
00:12The elections are held every five years,
00:14giving the 447 million citizens in the bloc's 27 member states
00:19the opportunity to choose who will represent them in the European Parliament.
00:23But they don't all vote the same way.
00:25Some countries vote for parties
00:27who have selected a fixed list of candidates to appear on the ballot paper.
00:31Other countries have more open lists,
00:33where voters choose a party or indicate who their favourite candidate is.
00:37Additionally, there's also the single transferable vote,
00:40where electors choose as many candidates as they like and number them by preference.
00:45MEPs are elected to represent regions in some countries, like Italy,
00:49while in others, such as Germany, they have the whole country as their constituency.
00:55The European Parliament elections use a proportional representation system,
00:59where each member state is allocated a certain number of seats based on its population size.
01:04Germany, the most populous member state, will get 96 MEPs,
01:09while Malta, the smallest country by population within the EU, has just 6.
01:14A total of 720 MEPs will be elected, 15 more compared to the previous elections.
01:21Once elected, they will serve a five-year term
01:24and spend their time between European Parliament meetings in Strasbourg and Brussels.
01:28MEPs representing different countries and regions sit in transnational groups,
01:33according to their political ideology.
01:35For example, there are groupings to represent the centre-right, socialists, greens and Eurosceptics.
01:42The largest political grouping after the elections
01:45has the strongest mandate to have its choice head up the Commission.
01:48The European Council, comprising representatives of EU countries,
01:52first votes on a nominee chosen after taking into account the election result.
01:57If they approve the candidate, it goes to the European Parliament,
02:01where he or she must get the support of a majority of MEPs.
02:05The Parliament directly shapes EU legislation, policies and budgets,
02:10reflecting the democratic voice of almost half a billion citizens across Europe.
02:15But regardless of its importance, EU election turnout has been on a downward trend,
02:20dropping significantly from the 62% recorded four decades ago.
02:25This decline has persisted despite a handful of countries having compulsory voting,
02:30including Belgium, Greece and Bulgaria.
02:34In 2019, voter turnout increased, with just over half of eligible voters participating.
02:45For more UN videos visit www.un.org