Editing European Parliament (section)

==Elections==
{{Main|Elections to the European Parliament}}Elections have taken place, directly in every member state, every five years since 1979. {{As of|2019}} there have been nine elections. When a nation joins mid-term, a by-election will be held to elect their representatives. This has happened six times, most recently when Croatia joined in 2013. Elections take place on over a four-day period from a Thursday to a Sunday (each Member State votes on the day of its choice). Member States choose their electoral system within common guidelines, notably that the suffrage must be universal and that seats are allocated by [[Proportional representation|proportional]]. This includes determining constituencies: while most Member States have a national constituencies, some divide their allocation between regions. Seats are [[Apportionment in the European Parliament|allocated to member states]] according to their population, since 2014 with no state having more than 96, but no fewer than 6, to maintain proportionality.<ref>{{cite web|title=The European Parliament: electoral procedures |publisher=European Parliament |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/facts/1_3_4_en.htm |access-date=12 June 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070617144910/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/facts/1_3_4_en.htm |archive-date=17 June 2007 }}</ref>

The most recent Union-wide elections to the European Parliament were the [[2019 European Parliament election|European elections of 2019]], held from 23 to 26 May 2019. They were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world.
The first session of the ninth parliament started 2 July 2019.<ref>
[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20190627IPR55404/constitution-of-the-9th-legislature-of-the-european-parliament "Constitution of the 9th legislature of the European Parliament |News |European Parliament"]. European Parliament. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.</ref>

[[European political parties]] have the exclusive right to campaign during the European elections (as opposed to their corresponding EP groups).<ref>{{cite web |title=European political parties |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/contracts-and-grants/en/20150201PVL00101/Political-parties-and-foundations |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=europarl.europa.eu |publisher=European Parliament}}</ref> There have been a number of proposals designed to attract greater public attention to the elections. One such innovation in the 2014 elections was that the [[European political party|pan-European political parties]] announced, ahead of the elections, their candidates for [[President of the European Commission|president]] of the [[European Commission|Commission]], the so-called ''Spitzenkandidaten'' (German, "leading candidates" or "top candidates"). The President of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council, representing the governments of the member states, and while there is no obligation for them to nominate the successful "candidate", the Lisbon Treaty states that they should take account of the results of the elections when choosing whom to nominate, and the candidate they propose must be endorsed by a majority of members of the European Parliament.<ref>[[Richard Corbett]] 'The European Parliament and the Spitzenkandidaten Process', in Matilde Ceron, Thomas Christiansen, Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos (eds) 'The Politicisation of the European Commission's Presidency: Spitzenkandidaten and Beyond' ISBN 978-3-031-48172-7 (print) and ISBN 978-3-031-48173-4 (eBook)</ref>

The ''Spitzenkandidaten'' in 2014 were [[Jean-Claude Juncker]] for the [[European People's Party]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://juncker.epp.eu|title=Jean-Claude Juncker: Experience. Solidarity. Future.|publisher=European People's Party|access-date=20 July 2021|archive-date=17 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117130239/http://juncker.epp.eu/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Martin Schulz]] for the [[Party of European Socialists]], [[Guy Verhofstadt]] for the [[Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party]], [[Ska Keller]] and [[José Bové]] jointly for the [[European Green Party]] and [[Alexis Tsipras]] for the [[Party of the European Left]]. The EPP won the most seats and Jean-Claude Juncker was nominated by the European Council and elected by the Parliament.

In 2019, the parties again announced their candidates for President of the Commission ahead of the European elections, notably [[Manfred Weber]] for the EPP and [[Frans Timmermans]] for the Party of European Socialists.  However, after the election, there was no agreement among the parties after the election to back any of them. After a period of deadlock, the European Council proposed [[Ursula von der Leyen]] as a compromise and Parliament elected her, albeit by a narrow majority.

In 2024, the EPP decided to back Von der Leyen for a second term of office and put her forward as their "Spitzenkandidat" while the PES put forward [[Nicolas Schmit]].

Until 2014, turnout dropped consistently in every election since the first election, and from 1999 until 2014 was below 50%. In 2007 both [[2007 European Parliament election|Bulgaria and Romania elected their MEPs]] in by-elections, having joined at the beginning of 2007. The Bulgarian and Romanian elections saw two of the lowest turnouts for European elections, just 28.6%<ref>{{cite web|title=New GERB party narrowly wins Bulgaria's first European Parliament election|date=21 May 2007|publisher=[[Southeast European Times]]|url=http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/newsbriefs/2007/05/21/nb-01|access-date=8 July 2007}}</ref> and 28.3% respectively.<ref>{{cite web|title=Romania chooses its 35 MEPS|date=26 November 2007|publisher=European Parliament|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/011-13241-329-11-47-902-20071115STO13229-2007-25-11-2007/default_en.htm|access-date=24 February 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213202736/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/011-13241-329-11-47-902-20071115STO13229-2007-25-11-2007/default_en.htm|archive-date=13 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This trend was interrupted in the 2019 election, when turnout increased by 8% EU-wide, rising to 50.6%, the highest since 1994.

In England, Scotland and Wales, EP elections were originally held for a constituency MEP on a first-past-the-post basis. In 1999 the system was changed to a form of [[proportional representation]] where parties put up a team of candidates in regional constituencies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/voting-in-the-uk/european-elections|title=Ways of voting - GOV.UK}}</ref> One could vote for a party's list of candidates, but not for an individual candidate (unless that party had a single candidate).