What are the European Parliament elections and why do they matter?

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While voter turnout has consistently dropped since 1979, some analysts say this week's elections are the most important in years.

With around 374 million people eligible to vote, they are the second biggest democratic contest in the world, after India’s elections.

"It is the only directly-elected trans-national parliament in the world. It is distinct from the national parliaments within EU member states - but works alongside them to make decisions on grants, farming, energy, environment, data protection, migration and more.”The European Parliament has traditionally been made up of centre-left or centre-right politicians and parties. It does not make decisions on tax, health, housing or education, which are made by individual member governments.

“In some places, more people vote in Eurovision and the X-Factor than in the European elections,” Mr Tormey said.As Europe splinters further to the left and right, the 2019 elections are seen by many politicians as an opportunity to help steer the continent through the next five years as it faces deep political division and environmental, economic and migration-related challenges.

"We're seeing a rise in intolerance, a rise in rhetoric from some far-right European politicians that is quite shocking and would like to divide us. These people would like to say some people - based on race, ethnicity, religion and such - have those rights, and other people do not,” HRW spokesman in Brussels, Andrew Stroehlein, told SBS News.

A number of other countries do not allow their citizens to vote from Australia or any other non-EU country; they include Ireland , Greece, Malta, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.Will the far-right get more power? The prospect of an increased far-right presence in the parliament has led some centrist European leaders, such as French President Emanuel Macron, to move closer to the left."The last vote signalled quite a significant change in the direction of European politics. I think this election is going to consolidate this change,” Dr Wellings said.

 

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