The 1979 European Parliament election, was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom after the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

(EC) decided to directly elect representatives to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. It was held on 7 June. Elections were also held in eight other EC states. European elections were incorporated into UK law by the

European Assembly Elections Act 1978 The European Assembly Elections Act 1978 (c 10) also known as the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1978 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made provision for the holding of elections of representatives to the European ...

. Out of the 410 members of the European Parliament, 81 were elected from the UK. The

electoral system An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections m ...

was

First Past the Post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

in England,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

(electing 78 MEPs in total) and

Single Transferable Vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

in Northern Ireland (electing 3 MEPs). The result was a landslide victory for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, which won 60 of the 78 seats available in England, Wales and Scotland. Their decisive victory in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

of the previous month and divisions within the Labour party on whether to stay in the EC probably helped the Conservatives to such a comprehensive victory. There was a very low turnout in the election compared with other states, the lowest in Europe. Voter apathy was an explanation, but it is likely the large number of elections in 1979 had a significant negative effect on turnout. There were

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

s in Scotland and Wales on

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

in March and the general election in May, as well as

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct v ...

in England (not including London) and Wales.

Result (UK-wide)

''Source
UK Parliament Briefing
' *Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 32.4% *Overall votes cast: 13,460,091

Results Breakdown

England, Scotland and Wales

European Parliament election, 1979 (Scotland)

''Source
UK Parliament Briefing
' Total votes cast – 12,873,852.

Northern Ireland

''Source Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive'' Total votes cast – 572,239.

Constituency results

References

{{British elections European Parliament elections in the United Kingdom

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...