How Many Ridings Are Member States Divided Into During European Parliamentary Elections?

Each EU member state is responsible for determining how many ridings the country should be divided into for the purposes of European parliamentary elections. In many cases the entire country is effectively treated as a single riding, because voters cast ballots for national lists, rather than for individual candidates in given ridings. Some of these single-riding countries include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Holland, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

In some countries, such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, voters cast ballots for regional lists, thus effectively creating large, regional ridings. France is divided into eight such regions, while the UK has 12, Italy has five and Belgium is divided into four regions, namely Flandria, Vallonia, Brussels and the German speaking areas.

In Poland, there are 13 regional ridings, but in all other newly joined EU member states, the entire country is effectively considered to be a single riding, due to the use of national lists.