Number of votes:
Total percentage allocated: {{enterPercentagesTotal}}%. Any unallocated percentages will be split evenly between remaining parties.
Select a region to fill the table with real 2019 or 2014 election results.
Total MEPs for region:
Total votes for region: {{ totalVotes.toLocaleString(undefined) }}
1 +/- click =
The + and - buttons add or remove votes with a click depending on the selector above.
Click a party name to edit it.
If you want to share your work with someone else click the url below to copy a link that shares exactly what you're seeing.
This is a calculator that shows you how many MEPs each party would get if they got the number of votes in the table above. You can edit the number of votes and click, "Compute MEPs" to see how many MEPs each party gets. You can also uncheck the box by a party's name to take them out of the running completely as though they didn't stand at all.
This page starts with UK North West because that's where I live. But if you live somewhere else then bookmark one of these links instead:
The way the votes are counted in a European election is slightly unusual. It's nothing like what we're used to in the UK. So I found it useful to have a little toy to play with where I can enter numbers and understand how this works. Ultimately I wanted to get clear in my head what the best strategy would be for a group wanting to improve the number of MEPs that think their way. Should parties with similar policies group up or not? (Spoiler alert - heck yes they should!)
I'll let the European Parliament take this one - What do MEPs do?
I'm so glad you asked. The system was devised by a chap called D'Hondt and although it's talked about as though it's proportional representation it really doesn't work the way you'd expect a PR system to. Here's a video that explains it:
The short answer is, "pretty well". But it's possible to do some analysis on this using a sensible little system posted by Jvqn on Twitter.
Ultimately the biggest problem with this system is not the D'Hondt algorithm but the small number of seats being allocated. And that is, in turn, a problem with splitting a country into regions. When there are 8 parties standing and only 3 seats to allocate (as in the North East) it's certain that some voters will be unrepresented. Regions mean small numbers of seats and that means smaller parties get no representation at all. Try increasing the number of MEPs at the top of the page to see what I mean.
The "ideal num MEPs" column is just the percentage of votes multiplied by the total number of seats. Where the number of MEPs is less than the ideal we calculate the percentage of total votes that are unrepresented. Where you see a "-" that's a party that is over represented.
Sainte-Laguë is another proportional representation system used by some countries in the EU instead of D'Hondt. Some consider it more fair than D'Hondt and it's certainly true that it does a better job of spreading out the number of parties that get seats. Check Sainte-Laguë on wikipedia for more explanation. If you'd like more about PR systems and some of the pros and cons of these systems then check out this twitter thread from jvqn.
But if you just want to compare Sainte-Laguë with D'Hondt I can help with that.
Now scroll back to the top to see the Sainte-Laguë column in the table.
Great! I'd love to make this more useful. Drop me a note on twitter and tell me about your idea. My twitter is @floyduk.
Hi, I'm John. I'm just an ordinary dad of 2 living in Cheshire. I run a small printing business. This page is hosted on my company's website. My politics are on the tree huggy side but I've tried to make this gadget unbiased. It's just information - it doesn't take sides. You can find me on Twitter at @floyduk.