European Parliamentary Election Day 4 June 2009
On Thursday 4 June the European Parliament Election takes place in the UK.
The following pages give you some important information about these elections.
You can find out about postal and proxy voting, how to make sure you are registered to vote and which polling station you should go to.
We will also bring you news of the parties and individual candidates standing in these elections.
European Parliamentary Election
Elections for the European Parliament takes place every 5 years. Between 4 June and 7 June 2009 European citizens in 27 member countries will vote in this year's European Parliamentary Election to elect 736 members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
The number of MEPs in each member country varies according to the country's population. The UK is represented by 72 MEPs. There are 12 electoral regions in the UK and the Scotland Region is represented by 6 MEP's.
Responsibility for the conduct of the European Parliamentary Election is shared between the Returning Officer for each electoral region known as the Regional Returning Officer and the Returning Officer responsible for the conduct of the poll in each local counting area known as the Local Returning Officer.
In the European Parliamentary Election, you have one vote to elect all of your MEPs. Each party puts forward a list of candidates known as the regional list and you vote for one of these lists or for an individual candidate. The number of MEPs that are elected from each party depends on their overall share of the votes cast.
As some member countries do not hold the election until 7 June, the counting of the votes will not take place until 7 June. The Regional Returning Officer for Scotland will announce the results as soon as all Local Returning Officers in Scotland have completed their counts and the votes have been collated.
More information on the European Parliament and the election can be found via the links page.