EU Elections

EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
Turnout:
the highs,
the lows, and
the outliers
The June 2024 election will show whether 2019’s
boost in turnout has halted a 30-year decline —
or was just a temporary blip.
By LEWIS BASTON
The turnout at the last European elections in May
2019 was a source of satisfaction to the European Parliament
as an institution. For the first time in the history
of direct elections, turnout had risen compared
with the previous elections. The 28-country turnout
was over 50 percent, the first time the parliament had
hit this benchmark since the election for the EU-15
block of states back in 1994. The 2024 election will
show whether this was a lasting reversal of the declining
trend, or a temporary blip.
There are two broad reasons for the continuous fall in
turnout from 1979 to 2014. One is the decline in turnout
in existing member states. Comparing like-withlike,
turnout in the original nine member states that
voted in 1979 (leaving out former East Germany and
West Berlin which joined the European electorate in
55