1984 European Parliament election

1984 European Parliament election

14–17 June 1984
All 434 seats to the European Parliament 218 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61% 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 17 3 14 Percentage 30% 25.3% 11.5% Swing 2.4% 0.8% 4.1%   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 3 9 7 Percentage 9.4% 7.1% 6.7% Swing 1.3% 2.7% 1.3%
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

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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

1984 European Parliament election - Groups 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

• Special issue of Electoral Studies on the elections.
• The election of the Members of the European Parliament European Navigator
• Full Election Details Elections Online (In French)