Holding the Election
Elections to the European Parliament are held in the Member States according to their national election legislation. In addition to this the provisions of the Election Act of the EU (stipulated in 1976, latest amendments in 2002) are followed.
Elections are held every fifth year in every Member State at the same time. The Council of the EU decided that the first elections (in 1979) were to be held in every Member State at the beginning of June beginning on Thursday and ending on Sunday. According to the election statute of the EU the following elections were to be held during the same period, and thus elections have always been held in early June. The Council may, however, unanimously decide to amend this so that the elections are held a month earlier or later. In Finland election day will be Sunday.
The next European elections will be held in 2014. The election period is from 5 to 8 June 2014. In Finland election day is Sunday 8 June 2014 and the advance voting is arranged ínf Finland from 28 May to 3 June and abroad from 28 to 31 May.
