Figures released by the Kantar polling organisation and the European Parliament website suggest that turnout in this year’s European elections is up. According to the latest figures, turnout across the European Union was 50.82%. This represents an increase of 8.21% when compared to the turnout at the 2014 European Parliament elections which was 42.61%.
The voter turnout rate also suggests that this is the first time that it has crossed the 50% mark in the last 15 years. Prior to this year’s election the turnout was in the 40% bracket, as illustrated in the below graph from the European Parliament website. In other words, more than half of all European Union citizens voted in the 2019 elections.
At a member state level, the picture was somewhat more varied. In the UK, for example, the turnout was only 36.7%. According to the BBC, 16,617,044 people voted on Thursday. This represents a slight increase of 1.8% when compared to the turnout of the 2014 European Parliament elections.
In contrast, Germany witnessed a gigantic increase in its turnout. A press release from the federal ministry, Der Bundeswahlleiter, claims that 61.4% of people voted. This is an increase of 13.3% when compared to the turnout in 2014 which saw a turnout of 48.1%.
While commenting on the increase at the European level, Guy Verhofstadt tweeted: “Very happy that for the firtst time in 25 years, turnout is higher thatn 50%”. He continued by claiming that “European citizens overwhelmingly voted for a renewed Europe”.
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