1984 European Parliament election

1984 European Parliament election

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All 434 seats to the European Parliament 218 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61% 2.0 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Rudi Arndt Egon Klepsch Henry Plumb Party SOC EPP ED Leader's seat Germany Germany Cotswolds Last election 113, 27.6% 107, 26.1% 64, 15.6% Seats won 130* 110* 50* Seat change 17 3 14 Percentage 30% 25.3% 11.5% Swing 2.4% 0.8% 4.1%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Gianni Cervetti Simone Veil Christian de La Malène Party COM ELDR EPD Leader's seat North-West Italy France France Last election 44, 10.7% 40, 9.8% 22, 5.4% Seats won 41 31 29 Seat change 3 9 7 Percentage 9.4% 7.1% 6.7% Swing 1.3% 2.7% 1.3%
Post-election composition of each member state's delegation * The number of seats was increased from 410 to 434 – so this is a nominal figure
President of the European Parliament before election Piet Dankert SOC President of the European Parliament after election Pierre Pflimlin EPP

The 1984 European Parliament election was the first since the inaugural election of 1979 and the 1981 enlargement of the European Community to include Greece. It was also the last before the accession of Spain and Portugal in 1986.

Results showed centre-left and right-wing MEPs profiting at the expense of the far-left and centre-right. The Socialists consolidated their position as the biggest group in the Parliament, and there were notable changes for the smaller groups, with far-right MEPs forming a group and the coalescence of the Green and Regionalist group known as "Rainbow". Overall turnout dropped to 61%. No majority was achieved.

Electoral system

There was no single voting system for all member states; each of them adopted its own method, established by national law.

The United Kingdom used a one-round (first-past-the-post) system of 78 constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland, while in Northern Ireland 3 proportional seats were allocated. Belgium, Ireland and Italy used a proportional system with subdivision of the territory into constituencies. Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands used a single national proportional system, although in the case of Denmark Greenland had its own constituency with the allocation of one seat and in the case of West Germany the three seats for the West Berlin area were not directly elected but were chosen by the Berlin House of Representatives, given the particular status of the city.

Pre-election

Seat changes

The number of seats was the same as before for each member state that took part in the 1979 election. Greece, which had joined in 1981, was allocated 24 new seats. This raised the number of seats to 434 from 410.

National distribution of seats
State	Seats		State	Seats
West Germany	81		Belgium	24
United Kingdom	81		Greece	24
France	81		Denmark	16
Italy	81		Ireland	15
Netherlands	25		Luxembourg	6

Election and regrouping

Overview

The Socialists increased their share by six seats to 130 seats, up from 124 before the elections. The Democratic Alliance (formerly Progressive Democrats) also made gains, up by seven to 29 seats. The People's Party's, the European Democrats, Communists and Liberals all lost seats. The French National Front and the Italian Social Movement founded a group called the "European Right": the first far-right group in the Parliament. The Technical Group of Independents was replaced by the Rainbow Group, a mixture of Greens and Regionalists.

Final results

1984 European Parliament election - final results at 23–26 July 1984
Group		Description	Chaired by	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	Rudi Arndt	130
	EPP	Christian Democrats	Egon Klepsch	110
	ED	Conservatives	Henry Plumb	50
	COM	Communists and the Far Left	Gianni Cervetti	41
	LD	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	Simone Veil	31
	EDA	National Conservatives	Christian de La Malène	29
	RBW	Greens and Regionalists	Else Hammerich Jaak Vandemeulebroucke Bram van der Lek Paul Staes	20
	ER	Far Right Nationalists	Jean-Marie Le Pen	16
	NI	Independents	none	7	Total: 434	Sources: Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine

Seats summary SOC   29.95% EPP   25.35% ED   11.52% COM   9.45% LD   7.14% EDA   6.68% RBW   4.61% ER   3.69% NI   1.61%

Results by country

Group Nation	SOC	EPP	ED	COM	LD	EDA	RBW	ER	NI	Total
Belgium	4 PS 3 SP	4 CVP 2 PSC			3 PRL 2 PVV		2 VU 1 Agalev 1 Ecolo		2 Ind.	24
Denmark	3 A 1 Siu	1 D	4 C	1 SF	2 V		4 N			16
France	20 PS	7 UDF 2 UDF (CDS)		10 PCF	6 UDF (PR) 5 UDF 1 UDF (PRV)	20 RPR	UPC	10 FN		81
Greece	10 PASOK	9 ND		3 KKE 1 KKE–E				1 EPEN		24
Ireland		6 FG			1 Ind.	8 FF				15
Italy	9 PSI 3 PSDI	26 DC 1 SVP		26 PCI	3 PLI 2 PRI		1 PdUP 1 DP 1 PSd'Az	5 MSI	3 PR	81
Luxembourg	2 LSAP	3 CSV			1 DP					6
Netherlands	9 PvdA	8 CDA			5 VVD		1 PSP 1 PPR		1 SGP	25
United Kingdom	32 LAB 1 SDLP		45 CON 1 UUP			1 SNP			1 DUP	81
West Germany	33 SPD	34 CDU 7 CSU					7 Grünen			81
Total	130	110	50	41	31	29	20	16	7	434

Statistics

European Parliament election, 1984 - statistics
Area	Dates	Seats	Electorate	Turnout	Previous	Next	Election methods	Sources
European Community (EC-10)	14, 17 June 1984	434	200,505,752	61%	1979	1989	All PR, except UK (not NI) which used FPTP	Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine

European Parliament election, 1984 - timeline
First Parliament			1984 election and regrouping		Second Parliament
Groups		Pre-elections January 1	Change	Results July 23	New groups		First session July 23
	SOC	124	+6	130		SOC	130
	EPP	117	-7	110		EPP	110
	ED	63	-13	50		ED	50
	COM	48	-7	41		COM	41
	LD	38	-7	31		LD	31
	EPD	22	+7	29		EDA	29
	CDI	12	+8	20		RBW	20
	NI	10	+13	7		NI	7
				16		ER	16
Total		434	+0	434	Total		434
Sources: Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine

European Parliament election, 1984 - Delegation at 23 July 1984
Group		Description	Details	%	MEPs
	SOC	Social Democrats	West Germany 33, Belgium 7, Denmark 4, France 20, Italy 12, Luxembourg 2, Netherlands 9, UK 33, Greece 10	30%	130
	EPP	Christian Democrats	West Germany 41, Belgium 6, Denmark 1, France 9, Ireland 6, Italy 27, Luxembourg 3, Netherlands 8, Greece 9	25%	110
	ED	Conservatives	Denmark 4, UK 46	12%	50
	COM	Communists and the Far Left	Denmark 1, France 10, Italy 26, Greece 4	9%	41
	LD	Liberals and Liberal Democrats	Belgium 5, Denmark 2, France 12, Ireland 1, Italy 5, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 5	7%	31
	EDA	National Conservatives	France 20, Ireland 8, UK 1	7%	29
	RBW	Greens and Regionalists	West Germany 7, Belgium 4, Denmark 4, Italy 3, Netherlands 2	5%	20
	ER	Far-Right Nationalists	France 10, Italy 5, Greece 1	4%	16
	NI	Independents	Belgium 2, Italy 3, Netherlands 1, UK 1	2%	7
Sources: Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine				100%	434

External links

• Special issue of Electoral Studies on the elections.
• The election of the Members of the European Parliament European Navigator
• Full Election Details Elections Online (In French)