Tuesday, August 05, 2014

It's official: the 2014 European elections saw the lowest turnout ever

Remember how some tried to make a song and dance about the turnout in May's European elections having increased for the first time since direct voting was introduced in 1979? Having dropped from 62% in 1979 to 43% in 2009, the 2014 elections saw a staggering increase of 0.09%, thus reversing the trend. The always-available-for-BBC-interviews Guy Verhofstadt said this increase in turnout was “an endorsement of the European project”, whilst Viviane Reding, as usual, didn’t disappoint:


Well, courtesy of European Voice, we now learn that the final turnout figure has been revised down to 42.54% – i.e. the lowest turnout ever. The 43.09% figure was based on exit polls so was preliminary, and it has taken a month and half to establish the real figures.

So it’s official: voter turnout has dropped in every single European elections since 1979, whilst the EP’s powers have consistently increased. It’ll be interesting to see how the usual suspects try to spin this one.


This isn’t a cause for celebration. It’s just simply embarrassing.
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8 comments:

  1. Utterances5/8/14 4:47 pm

    Using Verhofstadt's own logic, this is an indictment of the European Project.

    Hoisted by his own petard.

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  2. Anonymous5/8/14 5:01 pm

    Sadly, 42% or so of voters are hopelessly deluded.

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  3. Andrew Smith5/8/14 6:41 pm

    We know what they will say "everyone is so pleased they see no reason to vote"!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stewart5/8/14 8:34 pm

    Does anybody actually believe the figures we are given by this corrupt boondoggle?

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  5. Average Englishman6/8/14 11:33 am

    OE Team. Of the 42.5% that bothered to vote, what percentage of these voted for Eurosceptic parties like UKIP that just want to get their respective countries out of the EUSSR? Wasn't it something like 25%? If so, the 'grand project' really only has the endorsement of around 30% of the people able to vote, which is hardly enthusiastic support.

    Also, what percentage was it of the UK population able to vote who actually bothered and again, what percentage of them voted for UKIP etc?

    If that data were presented we would be able to see who in the EUSSR is really a fan of the boys and girls in Brussels and who is not. Plese forgive me if you've made this available before and I missed it.

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  6. Anonymous6/8/14 12:10 pm

    The UK voter turnout for the 2014 Euro's was 34.19%...

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  7. Jesper6/8/14 5:08 pm

    More or less embarrassing than 113% turnout?
    http://falkvinge.net/2012/03/14/european-parliament-blocks-copyright-reform-with-113-voter-turnout/

    “temporary democratic surplus”....

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  8. Anonymous7/8/14 6:00 pm

    Most people will not even know the new figure. Maybe next time they throw out 50% turnout or 90% and later will quietly whisper real figure.

    ReplyDelete