Will my vote count?

Vote GreenWill my vote count? Yes, it will.

The European election is a proportional election with six seats available for the South West.


See how votes are counted in the European election, and how a vote for the Green Party can make all the difference.

In the last five years since the last election in 2004, more and more people have come to support the Green Party's policies, and realise that the other parties are not taking their so-called 'green' policies seriously enough – they are 'grey', not green. Current polls indicate that we are on track to elect a Green MEP for the South West. Your vote will count.

The Green Party already has serving MEPs for London and for South East England; we can do the same in the South West.

Scroll down for more detail on how the proportional European election works.


Tony Juniper and Jonathon Porritt speak at the launch of the European election campaign in the Eastern region, on why we need - and can get - a Green MEP in every region.
 

In more detail...

On 4 June, 2009, a ballot was held to appoint six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for the South West England constituency. The MEPs are elected to serve for five years.

Unlike general elections within the UK, the European election uses a system of semi-proportional representation to fill the six available places according to the number of votes cast for each party across the whole region, according to the D’Hondt method. Parties are allocated one or more seats, in proportion to the number of votes they polled. Each party can field up to six candidates numbered from one to six, with the first candidate on the list taking the first seat allocated to that party, the second taking the second seat, and so on.

Last time in 2004, when there were seven seats, only 38% voted in the South West, and elected

  • 3 Conservatives
  • 2 UKIP
  • 1 Lib-Dem
  • 1 Labour