European Parliament election, 2004

Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. Votes were counted as the polls closed, but results were not announced until 13 and 14 June so results from one country would not influence voters in another where polls were still open; however, the Netherlands, voting on Thursday 10, announced nearly-complete provisional results as soon as they were counted, on the evening of its election day, a move heavily criticized by the European Commission.

342 million people were eligible to vote, the second-largest democratic electorate in the world after India. It was the biggest transnational direct election in history, and the 10 new member states elected MEPs for the first time. The new Parliament consisted of 732 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Results showed a general defeat of governing parties and an increase in representatives from eurosceptic parties. No majority was achieved. The balance of power in the Parliament remained the same despite the 10 new member states.__TOC__

Final results

tatistics

Results by country

The national results as at 30 June 2004 are as follows: [Sources:
*cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2004/ep-election/sites/en/results1306/parties.html|title=Breakdown by Member State and Political Group|publisher=European Parliament|date=2004-06-30
*cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2004/ep-election/sites/en/results1306/turnout_ep/index.html|title=Turnout 2004|publisher=European Parliament|date=2004-07-09
*cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2004/ep-election/sites/en/results1306/turnout_ep/graphical.html|title=Turnout trends at European elections|publisher=European Parliament|date=2004-07-07]

Registered voters: 378,106,633 (est.)
Votes cast: 168,317,718 (44.49%) (est.)
Total seats: 785 (+53)

Notes
1. Roger Helmer was expelled from the EPP-ED group in 2005, but retains the whip of the British Conservative Party.
2. The figures for the Nordic Green Left Alliance and the European Anticapitalist Left include only those members that are not full members of the Party of the European Left.
3. See 2 above.
4. The EUDemocrats, while having a preference for the IND/DEM group, is currently split between UEN and IND/DEM.
5. In addition to the majority of AIDE MEPs which sit in the IND/DEM group, AIDE also includes Non-Inscrit MEP, Jim Allister, as an individual member.
6. The figures for the European Christian Political Movement exclude a number of members who hold concurrent membership of the European Peoples Party.
7. See 4 above.
8. These figures include parties listed on the Euronat page which appear to have links with Euronat short of full membership.

Other notes
*These figures estimate 'notional' voting figures based on changes in the configuration of EU political groupings since the 2004 elections and the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. Their purpose is to better estimate the position which the groups will have to defend for the next European Parliament election.
*These figures incorporate the results of the 2004 Romanian Chamber of Deputies election and the 2005 Bulgarian National Assembly election, on which the distribution of Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs is temporarily based. These figures will consequentially change after the 2007 European Parliament elections in those countries.
*These figures include the ITS group.

New parties in the 2004 election

* In the United Kingdom, RESPECT The Unity Coalition was established to fight this election with the intention to use it as a springboard for a campaign against Tony Blair's government. The English Democrats Party appeared in England for the first time in 5 of the 9 English Constituencies, campaigning for an English Parliament and against English 'European' regions.

* A European Union-wide political party, the European Greens, was established in Rome on 21 February 2004 to contest this election.

* Swedish Junilistan (the June list) formed early in the year, meant to provide social democratic and right wing voters an EU sceptic alternative.

* In the Netherlands Europa Transparant of Paul van Buitenen got two seats.

* In Austria the "Liste Hans-Peter Martin" obtained two seats.

Political group reshuffle after the 2004 election

* "Liberals:" The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party created a new grouping by allying with MEPs from the French party Union for French Democracy (previously part of the EPP-ED), the Margherita Party (Italy) (previously part of the EPP-ED), other Italian members, the Lithuanian Labour Party and the Belgian MR-MCC (previously EPP-ED). The new allies formed the EDP and a new combined group, between the ELDR and the EDP, was formed with the name ALDE: the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

* "Eurosceptics:" Sweden's Junilistan, the pro-life League of Polish Families, and the French Combats Souverainistes joined the existing Europe of Democracies and Diversities group, which already includes the United Kingdom Independence Party. The group renamed itself Independence and Democracy (ID).

Other elections

The elections coincided with legislative elections in Luxembourg and presidential elections in Lithuania. They also coincided with local and regional elections in England and Wales, Irish local elections, regional elections in Belgium, local or regional elections in most of Italy, and state parliament elections in the German state of Thuringia.

ee also

*List of Members of the European Parliament 2004-2009

References

External links

* [http://www.elections2004.eu.int European Union's site for the European Parliament election, covering all of the European Union]
* [http://www.elections2004.eu.int/ep-election/sites/en/newsroom/info_office.html National Information offices and national election web sites]
* [http://www.eurela.org European Election News by European Election Law Association (Eurela)]
* [http://epp-ed.europarl.eu.int/home/en/countries.asp Election days in the 25 countries]
* [http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=14799 Czech Republic and the European Parliament elections 2004]
* [http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l16024.htm Evaluation of the European Parliament Elections (2004)]

Results

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2004/euro/html/1.stm BBC News: EU-wide results]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/elections2004/tables/0,14549,1234741,00.html Guardian: results in the United Kingdom]
* [http://www.rte.ie/news/elections2004/european_resultsindex.html Irish results from RTE]
* [http://www.pe2004.pkw.gov.pl/ Polish official results]
* [http://www.im.dk/res13juni2004/ Full Danish official results]
* [http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/newsAndEvents/archives/2004/Predicting_the_Future.htm Predicting the Future: the next European Parliament] (pre-election prediction)

European Election information sites

* Ireland: [http://www.europarl.ie/elections/index.html European Parliament Office in Ireland election information]
* UK: [http://europecounts.org.uk/ EuropeCounts.org.uk] - Official UK European Elections Website
* [http://www.vaalit.fi/21952.htm Information from the Finnish Justice Ministry] on the election
* [http://www.europarliament.net/ attendance and voting records] ; [http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/EuropeanElections software patents] (see article software patent) and [http://www.foeeurope.org/euvotewatch/ environmental issues] (see articles green/environmental issues) collect data on how MEPs voted, in order that the electorate may have a better idea on how to vote on them.
* European Election Studies [http://www.europeanelectionstudies.net www.europeanelectionstudies.net]

Candidates

* [http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/EuropeanElection2004CandidatesBelgium Belgium]
* [http://www.linux.lu/lilux/front_content.php?idcat=27 Luxembourg]
* [http://francepolitique.free.fr/euro20040.htm France]
* [http://www.ukomttochook.nl/index1.asp?hr=3 Netherlands]
* [http://ffii.se/dokument/eukandidater.html Sweden]
* [http://www.europecounts.org.uk/your_candidate UK]
* See German version of this article for the German and Austrian candidates