Electoral systems for the European Parliament – Voting system and number of MEPs

The EP now has 751 MEPs, a reduction from the outgoing Parliament in which there were 766 MEPs (754 + 12 for Croatia which joined in 2013).
MEPs are elected under national electoral systems, but these have to observe certain common provisions established in EU law, notably proportional representation. As a general rule, voters can choose between political parties, individual candidates or both. While in some Member States, voters can only vote for a list, with no possibility to change the order of candidates on the list (closed list), in others voters can express their preference for one or more of the candidates (preferential voting). Instead of a list system, some Member States use the single transferable vote (STV).