2009 European Parliament election

The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history. An additional 18 observers ("virtual MEPs") were (supposed to be) pre-elected.

2009 European Parliament election

4–7 June 2009

All 736 seats to the European Parliament and 18 observers
369 seats needed for a majority
Turnout43.24% 2.4 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Joseph Daul Martin Schulz Graham Watson
Party EPP PES ELDR
Alliance EPP S&D ALDE
Leader's seat East France Germany South West England
Last election 277 seats, 36.4% 218 seats, 27.2% 106 seats, 12.0%
Seats before 288 217 104
Seats won 265
8 observers
183
5 observers
84
Seat change 23* 34* 20*
Percentage 36% 25% 11.4%
Swing 0.7% 2.8% 1.8%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
ECR
Leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit None Francis Wurtz
Party Green MER Left
Alliance Greens/EFA ECR GUE/NGL
Leader's seat Germany N/A Île-de-France
Last election 42 seats, 5.7% New group 41 seats, 5.6%
Seats before 42 N/A 35
Seats won 55
2 observers
54
1 observer
35
Seat change 13* N/A 6*
Percentage 7.5% 7.3% 4.8%
Swing 2.1% N/A 0.5%

  Seventh party
 
Leader Nigel Farage
(de facto)
Party UKIP
Alliance EFD
Leader's seat South East England
Last election New group
Seats before N/A
Seats won 32
Seat change N/A
Percentage 4.3%
Swing N/A

Post-election composition of each member state's delegation
* The number of seats was decreased from 785 to 736 – so this is a nominal figure

President of the European Parliament before election

Hans-Gert Pöttering
EPP–ED

President of the
European Parliament after election

Jerzy Buzek
EPP

The majority of MEPs were elected on Sunday 7 June, but because of traditional polling days varying from country to country according to local custom, some countries held their elections in the three preceding days:

In seven EU member states, other votes occurred alongside the elections to the European Parliament: a general election in Luxembourg; local government elections in Latvia, part of the United Kingdom, parts of Germany, Italy, Malta, and Ireland (as well as two by-elections in Ireland, in Dublin Central and Dublin South); regional elections in Belgium; and a referendum on reforming the monarchical rules of succession in Denmark that would give women the same rights through equal primogeniture.

This was the first European Parliament election in which Bulgaria and Romania participated at the same time as the other member states. When those countries joined the EU in 2007, they held elections for MEPs outside the normal electoral calendar.

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