Elezioni europee

Towards the June vote

European elections 2024: voting methods, preferences and constituencies

Find out how the 2024 European elections will take place in Italy, how to vote and the rules on preferences and constituencies

by Andrea Gagliardi

9 May 2024

Unindustria, Corazza (Parlamento Europeo): "Riportare l'Industria in Europa"

4' min read

Key points

Documents to be brought to the polling station
Proportional system
Up to three preferences
Disjunctive voting not allowed
Who can apply
Which parties can submit lists and be voted
4% threshold
Voting accessible to 'off-campus' students

4' min read

In Italy, the European elections will take place on 8 and 9 June 2024. To vote, one must be at least 18 years of age, as well as an Italian or EU citizen with legal residence in Italy, or an Italian citizen residing abroad. You will go to the polls to elect 76 members of the European Parliament.

When voting for the renewal of the European Parliament

Polling stations will be open from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday 8 June and from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday 9. In conjunction with the European elections, local elections will be held in more than 3,900 municipalities.

Documents to be brought to the polling station

Each voter must go to the section indicated on the voter card (which must be brought along with an identity document).

The electoral system

According to European electoral law, all member states must use a proportional electoral system. This means that seats are allocated in such a way that the different lists have a number of seats proportional to the votes received.

How many preferences can you give?

Italy, Poland and Belgium are the only countries to have multiple constituencies, with the boot divided into five: North West, North East, Centre, South and Islands (each constituency is assigned a number of seats based on the resident population: 29, 15, 18 and 8 respectively). The other EU countries with a majority of states, including Spain, France and Germany also have a single constituency with closed lists and no preferences. Italy, on the other hand, uses preference voting. To vote, one must draw a mark on the symbol corresponding to the chosen list. It is possible, but not obligatory, to express a maximum of three preferences. In the case of several preferences, however, these must concern candidates of different sexes, otherwise the second and third preference will be cancelled. Thus, not three candidates or three female candidates can be chosen, but two men and one woman, or two women and one man. Voters, however, also have the option of indicating no preference, in which case the vote will by default not go to the main candidate indicated by the party, but only to the list.

Disjunctive voting not permitted

Disjunctive voting' is not permitted. Thus, one cannot select a list and then indicate a preference among the candidates of another list.

Who are the candidates in the European elections

The candidates for the European elections, presented on the list by each political party or group, are Italian citizens who must be 25 years old by the day fixed for the elections, or citizens of other Member States, residing in Italy and registered in the appropriate additional lists, who meet the eligibility requirements for the European Parliament laid down by Italian law and are not disqualified from standing in their Member State of origin.

The parties competing in the European elections 2024

It is possible to vote for political parties or groups that have duly deposited their mark with the Ministry of the Interior and have subsequently submitted their lists of candidates to the electoral offices set up at the courts of appeal of the district capitals. All parties that have a parliamentary group in the Italian Parliament or that in the last political elections have presented candidacies with their own signatures and obtained at least one seat are exempt from the collection of signatures. Parties belonging to one of the European parties (EPP, ESDP, Greens, etc) that have a Member of Parliament elected in the Italian constituencies are also exempt. For non-exempt parties or movements, at least 15,000 signatures are needed in each constituency.

4% bar threshold

For the election of Italian members to the European Parliament, lists must have obtained at least 4% of the valid votes cast at national level.

Voting accessible to 'off-site' students

On the occasion of the European elections on 8 and 9 June, students "out-of-office" will be able to vote, for the first time, for lists and candidates from their home constituency, without having to return to their municipality of residence. To be eligible to vote 'offsite', interested students had to submit a special application to their municipality of residence by 5 May 2024. The new method of voting will allow students domiciled for a period of at least three months in a municipality outside their region of residence to vote: in the municipality where they live temporarily if it belongs to the same electoral district as their municipality of residence; or in special polling stations set up in the regional capital of the municipality where they live temporarily, if the latter belongs to a different electoral district from their municipality of residence.

So: if a student from Milan studies in Forlì, he will not be able to vote in the polling stations in the city in Romagna, but will have to do so in Bologna. Since Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy belong to two different constituencies. On the other hand, if a student from Bologna is attending university in Verona, he will not have to vote in the capital of the Veneto region, but will be able to vote in Padua, since both regions belong to the same North-East constituency.