1984 European Parliament election

The 1984 European Parliament election was the first since the inaugural election of 1979 and the 1981 enlargement of the European Community to include Greece. It was also the last before the accession of Spain and Portugal in 1986.

1984 European Parliament election

← 1979 14–17 June 1984 1989 →

All 434 seats to the European Parliament
218 seats needed for a majority
Turnout61% Decrease 2.0 pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Rudi Arndt Egon Klepsch Henry Plumb
Party SOC EPP ED
Leader's seat Germany Germany Cotswolds
Last election 113, 27.6% 107, 26.1% 64, 15.6%
Seats won 130* 110* 50*
Seat change Increase17 Increase3 Decrease14
Percentage 30% 25.3% 11.5%
Swing Increase2.4% Decrease0.8% Decrease4.1%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Gianni Cervetti Simone Veil Christian de La Malène
Party COM ELDR EPD
Leader's seat North-West Italy France France
Last election 44, 10.7% 40, 9.8% 22, 5.4%
Seats won 41 31 29
Seat change Decrease3 Decrease9 Increase7
Percentage 9.4% 7.1% 6.7%
Swing Decrease1.3% Decrease2.7% Increase1.3%

Post-election composition of each member state's delegation
* The number of seats was increased from 410 to 434 – so this is a nominal figure

President of the European Parliament before election

Piet Dankert
SOC

President of the European Parliament after election

Pierre Pflimlin
EPP

Results showed centre-left and right-wing MEPs profiting at the expense of the far-left and centre-right. The Socialists consolidated their position as the biggest group in the Parliament, and there were notable changes for the smaller groups, with far-right MEPs forming a group and the coalescence of the Green and Regionalist group known as "Rainbow". Overall turnout dropped to 61%. No majority was achieved.

Electoral system

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There was no single voting system for all member states; each of them adopted its own method, established by national law.

The United Kingdom used a one-round (first-past-the-post) system of 78 constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland, while in Northern Ireland 3 proportional seats were allocated. Belgium, Ireland and Italy used a proportional system with subdivision of the territory into constituencies. Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands used a single national proportional system, although in the case of Denmark Greenland had its own constituency with the allocation of one seat and in the case of West Germany the three seats for the West Berlin area were not directly elected but were chosen by the Berlin House of Representatives, given the particular status of the city.

Pre-election

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Seat changes

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The number of seats was the same as before for each member state that took part in the 1979 election. Greece, which had joined in 1981, was allocated 24 new seats. This raised the number of seats to 434 from 410.

National distribution of seats
State Seats State Seats
  West Germany 81   Belgium 24
  United Kingdom 81   Greece 24
  France 81   Denmark 16
  Italy 81   Ireland 15
  Netherlands 25   Luxembourg 6

Campaign

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Election and regrouping

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Overview

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The Socialists increased their share by six seats to 130 seats, up from 124 before the elections. The Democratic Alliance (formerly Progressive Democrats) also made gains, up by seven to 29 seats. The People's Party's, the European Democrats, Communists and Liberals all lost seats. The French National Front and the Italian Social Movement founded a group called the "European Right": the first far-right group in the Parliament. The Technical Group of Independents was replaced by the Rainbow Group, a mixture of Greens and Regionalists.

Final results

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1984 European Parliament election - final results at 23–26 July 1984
Group Description Chaired by MEPs
  SOC Social Democrats Rudi Arndt 130  
  EPP Christian Democrats Egon Klepsch 110
  ED Conservatives Henry Plumb 50
  COM Communists and the Far Left Gianni Cervetti 41
  LD Liberals and Liberal Democrats Simone Veil 31
  EDA National Conservatives Christian de La Malène 29
  RBW Greens and Regionalists Else Hammerich
Jaak Vandemeulebroucke
Bram van der Lek
Paul Staes
20
  ER Far Right Nationalists Jean-Marie Le Pen 16
  NI Independents none 7 Total: 434 Sources: [1][2] Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
Seats summary
SOC
29.95%
EPP
25.35%
ED
11.52%
COM
9.45%
LD
7.14%
EDA
6.68%
RBW
4.61%
ER
3.69%
NI
1.61%

Results by country

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Group
Nation
SOC EPP ED COM LD EDA RBW ER NI Total
Belgium 4 PS
3 SP
4 CVP
2 PSC
3 PRL
2 PVV
2 VU
1 Agalev
1 Ecolo
2 Ind. 24
Denmark 3 A
1 Siu
1 D 4 C 1 SF 2 V 4 N 16
France 20 PS 7 UDF
2 UDF (CDS)
10 PCF 6 UDF (PR)
5 UDF
1 UDF (PRV)
20 RPR UPC 10 FN 81
Greece 10 PASOK 9 ND 3 KKE
1 KKE–E
1 EPEN 24
Ireland 6 FG 1 Ind. 8 FF 15
Italy 9 PSI
3 PSDI
26 DC
1 SVP
26 PCI 3 PLI
2 PRI
1 PdUP
1 DP
1 PSd'Az
5 MSI 3 PR 81
Luxembourg 2 LSAP 3 CSV 1 DP 6
Netherlands 9 PvdA 8 CDA 5 VVD 1 PSP
1 PPR
1 SGP 25
United Kingdom 32 LAB
1 SDLP
45 CON
1 UUP
1 SNP 1 DUP 81
West Germany 33 SPD 34 CDU
7 CSU
7 Grünen 81
Total 130 110 50 41 31 29 20 16 7 434

Statistics

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European Parliament election, 1984 - statistics
Area Dates Seats Electorate Turnout Previous Next Election methods Sources
European Community
(EC-10)
14, 17 June
1984
434 200,505,752 61% 1979 1989 All PR, except UK (not NI)
which used FPTP
[3] Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine [4] Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine [5]
European Parliament election, 1984 - timeline
First Parliament 1984 election and regrouping Second Parliament
Groups Pre-elections
January 1
Change Results
July 23
New
groups
First session
July 23
  SOC 124 +6 130   SOC 130
  EPP 117 -7 110   EPP 110
  ED 63 -13 50   ED 50
  COM 48 -7 41   COM 41
  LD 38 -7 31   LD 31
  EPD 22 +7 29   EDA 29
  CDI 12 +8 20   RBW 20
  NI 10 +13 7   NI 7
16   ER 16
Total 434 +0 434 Total 434
Sources: [6] Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine [7] Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine [8]
European Parliament election, 1984 - Delegation at 23 July 1984
Group Description Details % MEPs
  SOC Social Democrats West Germany 33, Belgium 7, Denmark 4, France 20, Italy 12, Luxembourg 2, Netherlands 9, UK 33, Greece 10 30% 130
  EPP Christian Democrats West Germany 41, Belgium 6, Denmark 1, France 9, Ireland 6, Italy 27, Luxembourg 3, Netherlands 8, Greece 9 25% 110
  ED Conservatives Denmark 4, UK 46 12% 50
  COM Communists and the Far Left Denmark 1, France 10, Italy 26, Greece 4 9% 41
  LD Liberals and Liberal Democrats Belgium 5, Denmark 2, France 12, Ireland 1, Italy 5, Luxembourg 1, Netherlands 5 7% 31
  EDA National Conservatives France 20, Ireland 8, UK 1 7% 29
  RBW Greens and Regionalists West Germany 7, Belgium 4, Denmark 4, Italy 3, Netherlands 2 5% 20
  ER Far-Right Nationalists France 10, Italy 5, Greece 1 4% 16
  NI Independents Belgium 2, Italy 3, Netherlands 1, UK 1 2% 7
Sources: [9] [10] Archived 27 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine 100% 434

Post-election

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