What System Constit
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We are now going to look at the issue of European elections, so you'll have to make a quick trip to Brussels. Let's start with the elections for members of the European Parliament. First of all, you need to know the rules that govern the European electoral process. 1.- Who can vote? 2.- What system is used, the majority one or the proportional one? 3.- What types of constituency system are used in the Basque Country? Wow, what a lot of work! Now I have to find out what the distribution of seats would have been had the D'Hondt electoral system been used in a single constituency for the whole EU. At least this time they're going to let me use a simulator: Let's see if I can work out what to do! ! FILL IN THE TABLE BELOW (RIGHT-HAND COLUMN) ELECTIONS TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2004 Parliamentary Grouping Euro MPs Votes % votes Seats according to the D’ Hondt system Party/Subgroup Group of the European People's Party and the European Democrats (EPP-ED) 52,534,612 34.0% 277 Composed of: European People's Party 44,670,810 28.9% 227 - European Democrats 5,189,196 3.4% 37 - Associated Independents 2,674,606 1.7% 13 - Group of the Party of European Socialists (PES) 37,271,453 24.1% 198 Composed of: Party of European Socialists 36,716,593 23.8% 193 - 554,860 0.4% 5 Associated Independents - Group of the Eur opean Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) 13,732,594 8.9% 66 Composed of: European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 10,835,213 7.0% 59 - Associated Independents 2,897,381 1.9% 7 - Group of the European United Left and Nordic Green Left (EUL/NGL) 9,999,413 6.5% 41 Composed of: Party of the European Left 5,512,904 3.6% 17 - Nordic Green Left Alliance 623,401 0.4% 4 - European Anticapitalist Left 529,782 0.3% 0 - Associated Inde pendents 3,333,327 2.2% 20 - Group of the Greens and the European Free Alliance (G/EFA) 9,742,287 6.3% 40 Composed of: European Green Party 8,290,609 5.4% 33 - European Free Alliance 946,834 0.6% 4 - Associated Independents 504,844 0.3% 3 - Union for Europe of the Nations Group (UEN) 6,141,614 4.0% 27 Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) 3,611,803 2.3% 15 Composed of: European Christian Political Movement 341,895 0.2% 1 - Associated Independents 3,269,908 2.1% 14 - Non-Inscrits/Non-Affiliated (NI) 21,395,261 13.8% 68 Composed of: Euronat 12 - 56 - Other Independents Parties that failed to win representation 122,223 0.1% 0 Composed of: European National Front 97,156 0.1% 0 - Europe – Democracy – Esperanto 25,067 <0.05% 0 - Total 154,317,718 732 And, last but not least, research and find out the abstention rate in European elections. In your opinion, why is this? Now it's time to think about and discuss this (just like MPs), in order to draw a few conclusions. Here we are, Joana. We've followed all your steps and seen for ourselves what a fantastic detective you are. We will be helping you again later on. Please send the conclusions of your debate to the Observatory. They will be very grateful. The idea here is to sum up the positive and negative aspects of each system (although you should also bear in mind that there are many different factors OUR ELECTORAL we have not studied here). SYSTEMS Positive aspects Negative aspects Majority system Proportional system according to D'Hondt's law The aim here is to establish the characteristics that a democratic system OUR should have. Let's do this by trial and error. DEMOCRACIES I REJECT... I LIKE... GREEK DEMOCRACY MODERN-DAY DEMOCRACIES CONCLUSIONS: YOUR DEMOCRACY In your last report you need to develop your own democratic model. Take into account everything you have seen in tests five and six. Consult these websites. They will give you ideas and help you compare different opinions.. http://www.democraciaweb.org/democas.htm http://www.democraticidiretti.org/ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otra_Democracia_es_Posible You can send your conclusions to this European initiative, which has been set up by various youth organisations in Europe in order to make their opinions heard within the European Commission. cafebabel.com, la revista europea de actualidad: política y análisis vistos desde Europa European Citizens' Initiative - Home.