Argument: Get out the vote!

In a system where every vote counts the same and where there are not set constituencies it is much more important to get the vote out. Political parties in countries with low turn outs, such as the UK which in 2009 has a turnout of just 35%, [1] will need to get their people motivated and voting if they want to win many seats as they currently control. If a country with a comparably sized electorate were to get twice the turnout then it would get twice the representation in the parliament regardless of the similarities in the populations of those countries. What would matter is getting the national constituency out voting. This will help show that individuals really do need to vote in order to get their voice heard.

[1] ‘European Parliament Elections 2009’, House of Commons, Research Paper 09/53, 17 June 2009, http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/rp2009/RP09-053.pdf p.23

Candidate 1: "Simply allowing parties from other countries to compete is not going to encourage Europe wide thinking. There is very little to stop parties from other countries registering elsewhere already, and as the voting is already proportional there is already a chance that they could win seats. It has however not happened."
Candidate 2: "This assumes that there could never be agreement in the European Council, between member states, to set up such a system. Members have an interest in having a representative system that is fair democratic system of elections so should welcome these changes. The member states have already effectively agreed that the European Parliament can decide for itself what elections for the European Parliament should look like having agreed in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to accept European Parliament proposals for elections of parliament members. [1]

[1] ‘Consolidated Version of The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’, Official Journal of the European Union, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:0047:0199:EN:PDF , Article 223"
Candidate 3: "Far from rationalising the system the European Parliament elections will become more irrational with a single constituency. Everyone will find it very odd that they can potentially vote for parties from the other side of the continent that they have never heard of. It may make the system the same everywhere but this does not mean it is a sensible system for European elections. The number of parties makes it complex, as does the concept of an international parliament where all votes go into one central pool rather than being based on nationality."
Candidate 4: "This is clearly extremely unfair on those countries that traditionally have much lower turnouts. It essentially means that countries with low turnouts will have less representation than they do at the moment. There is little reason why a nation as a whole should be punished by having less representation for some of its citizens not going out to vote."
Candidate 5: "No nation in the European Union has a majority so this is a baseless concern. The biggest country in the EU is Germany with a population of 81.8million against a total of 508million so Germany makes up a mere 16.1% of the EU total. [1] This is certainly not enough to dominate the continent.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_State_of_the_European_Union"
Candidate 6: "It is not true that they won’t have representation; they may not have a specifically Luxembourger or Maltese party but there will be so much choice of parties that their viewpoints will be represented. Additionally this system allows the parties from these small nations to solve this problem by appealing to a wider audience beyond their borders. It is simply an added incentive to Europeanise."
Candidate 7: "Discussing electoral systems may seem esoteric but the voting system makes an immense difference to the composition of a parliament. This in turn affects the balance of power in that Parliament and so what laws are actually passed. So a change in the voting system does not completely avoid the question of powers. It may also change perceptions because of the ability of parties to campaign in countries where they have not done so before.

While the lack of powers is a concern for the European Parliament this is something that is slowly changing anyway. The European Parliament was in 2009 made co-legislator with the council meaning it has much more power to stop European level legislation rather than simply being consulted. The change in 2014 to having an elected Commission President will also mean that parliament elections have some influence on the executive. Additionally even on those issues where the Parliament has little power this does not mean it does not take into account citizens’ concerns, on youth unemployment for example the parliament has launched a €15 million program of job creation aimed at youth. [1]

[1] ‘European elections 2014: Different this time?’, EurActive.com, 18 September 2013, http://www.euractiv.com/eu-elections-2014/eu-elections-2014-time-different-linksdossier-530239"
Candidate 8: "It is not just much more choice but too much choice! Do people in Greece really want the opportunity to vote for the UK Independence Party? Will anyone really have the information to make an informed choice between all the possible parties throughout Europe? The European People’s party (one of the groupings in the European parliament) alone has 51 parties as members of its grouping is anyone really going to look up the different party policies to work out which best represents their views? [1]

[1] ‘Member Parties European Union countries’, European People’s Party, http://www.epp.eu/sites/default/files/lmp.pdf"
Candidate 9: "Part of the reason for such apathy is the belief that 62% of European Citizens believe that their vote “wouldn’t change anything”. [1] Why vote if it does not matter. However by changing the electoral system to being completely proportional as this change does peoples votes really do count, this is no longer a reason for apathetically not voting.

[1] Merritt, Giles, ‘European parliament: unpopular, uninteresting, indispensable’, theguardian.com, 31 May 2009, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/31/european-parliament-elections-apathy"
Candidate 10: "While it may be true on an individual level that everyone’s vote would count for the same in practice when looked at from a broader perspective there will not be equality. It will mean inequality among nations as turnouts will differ. Moreover democracy is not just about equality but also about defending the rights of the minority so as to prevent a tyranny of the majority this system however does not protect smaller states but allows the larger much greater influence."

This is clearly extremely unfair on those countries that traditionally have much lower turnouts. It essentially means that countries with low turnouts will have less representation than they do at the moment. There is little reason why a nation as a whole should be punished by having less representation for some of its citizens not going out to vote.
