The first elections for the European Parliament took place on June 10, 1979. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the European Parliament, and also the first international election in history. Up to then, Seats in the Parliament had been allocated to the states according to population, and in some cases were divided into constituencies, but members sat according to political groups.
In June, the 410 members were elected by universal suffrage. At the time there were no rules on the system of election to be used.
The electorate took little interest but average voter turnout was 63%. The lowest turnout was in the United Kingdom with 32.2%, while the highest turnout was in Italy with 84.9%.
Socialist parties working together under the Europe-wide Confederation of Socialist Parties won the most seats: the resultant Socialist group had 113 MEPs. Christian Democrat parties united within the pan-European European People’s Party came second, with the resultant group having 107 MEPs. The largest third force was the Conservative European Democrats with 64, followed by Communists with 44. The Liberal Democrats had 40 seats, although their candidate was elected as President.
The groups formed were loose coalitions based on the groups founded in previous years, but they soon became the basis for modern European political parties. In its first session, the new Parliament elected French lawyer and politician Simone Veil as its first President, a position she held until 1982.
Edited by Bouli Hadjiioannou
