Pendle News Room

More than five million people across North West England will have the opportunity to vote in these elections to select the region’s eight Members of the European Parliament (MEPs.)

The North West European Elections count and declaration will take place in Manchester on Sunday 26 May, after polls close across Europe.

Philip Mousdale, Returning Officer and Corporate Director for Pendle Council, said: “If you’ve already registered to vote in the May elections you don’t need to register again unless your circumstances have changed.

“But if you haven’t registered to vote and want to have your say in the European Parliament Elections, you must register by Tuesday 7 May.

“You can do it online and it takes just five minutes - www.gov.uk/register-to-vote”

If you’re a European Union citizen living in the North West you can vote in either the United Kingdom or in your country of origin but not both.

To vote in the United Kingdom, you must be registered to vote and have completed an additional form called a UC1.

Pendle Council has sent this form to all EU citizens registered to vote in the borough and it can also be downloaded from www.northwestvotes.gov.uk 

The form must be returned by Tuesday 7 May. 

Anyone registered to vote can apply to vote by post. Applications for a postal vote in this election must be received by 5pm on Wednesday 8 May.

Alternatively you can apply for a proxy vote which means you can ask someone you know and trust to vote on your behalf.

The deadline for proxy votes is 5pm on Wednesday 15 May.

To find out more visit www.yourvotematters.co.uk 

A full list of candidates for the European Parliament Elections will be published at 5pm on Thursday 25 April.

Joanne Roney OBE, Regional Returning Officer for the European Parliament Elections in the North West, said: “While the circumstances around these elections are somewhat unexpected, this election gives people the opportunity to elect the politicians who will represent them in Europe until such point as the UK leaves the European Union.

“Election teams across the North West are focused on the effective organisation of these elections and we don’t want anyone to miss out on their right to vote because they are not registered.”

The European Parliament Elections are run using a form of proportional representation. Voters have one vote only, and this can be cast for either a political party or an individual candidate. Each political party puts forward a list of candidates for the North West and the number of MEPs that are elected will depend on the overall share of the vote that a party or individual candidate receives in the region. 

MEPs represent the whole of the North West region and so everybody who is eligible to vote in the region will be voting for the same list of parties and candidates.