General elections
2Voting system in Great Britain
(1)The system of election of MEPs in an electoral region in Great Britain is to be a regional list system.
(2)The Secretary of State must by regulations—
(a)make provision for the nomination of registered parties in relation to an election in such a region, and
(b)require a nomination under paragraph (a) to be accompanied by a list of candidates numbering no more than the MEPs to be elected for the region.
(3)The system of election must comply with the following conditions.
(4)A vote may be cast for a registered party or an individual candidate named on the ballot paper.
(5)The first seat is to be allocated to the party or individual candidate with the greatest number of votes.
(6)The second and subsequent seats are to be allocated in the same way, except that the number of votes given to a party to which one or more seats have already been allocated are to be divided by the number of seats allocated plus one.
(7)In allocating the second or any subsequent seat there are to be disregarded any votes given to—
(a)a party to which there has already been allocated a number of seats equal to the number of names on the party’s list of candidates, and
(b)an individual candidate to whom a seat has already been allocated.
(8)Seats allocated to a party are to be filled by the persons named on the party’s list of candidates in the order in which they appear on that list.
(9)For the purposes of subsection (6) fractions are to be taken into account.
(10)In this section “registered party” means a party registered under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41).
3Voting system in Northern Ireland
The system of election of MEPs in Northern Ireland is to be a single transferable vote system under which—
(a)a vote is capable of being given so as to indicate the voter’s order of preference for the candidates, and
(b)a vote is capable of being transferred to the next choice—
(i)when the vote is not required to give a prior choice the necessary quota of votes, or
(ii)when, owing to the deficiency in the number of votes given for a prior choice, that choice is eliminated from the list of candidates.
4Date of elections
The poll at each general election of MEPs is to be held on a day appointed by order of the Secretary of State.