European Parliament election 2004

European Parliament election, 2004

← 1999 10 June 2004 - 13 June 2004 2009 →
← outgoing members Members elected →
All 732 seats to the European Parliament 367 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	45.6% 4.2 pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hans-Gert Pöttering Martin Schulz Graham Watson Party EPP PES ELDR Alliance EPP–ED PES ALDE Leader's seat Germany Germany South West England Last election 233, 37.2% 180, 28.8% 50, 8.0% Seats won 282 203 86 Seat change 40 7 43 Popular vote 52,567,771 43,327,099 Percentage 36.6% 25.3% 12.0% Swing 1.6% 3.5% 4.0%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit (pictured) Monica Frassoni Francis Wurtz Nigel Farage (pictured) Jens-Peter Bonde Party Green Left AEN Alliance Greens–EFA GUE/NGL ID Leader's seat Germany North-West Italy Île-de-France South East England Denmark Last election 48, 7.7% 42, 6.7% 16, 2.6% Seats won 41 37 36 Seat change 5 3 18 Percentage 5.7% 5.6% 5.1% Swing 2.0% 1.1% 3.5%
The largest European Parliament group as elected by each Member State:   EPP-ED   PES   ALDE   UEN   Two groups are tied
Majority Leader before election Hans-Gert Pöttering EPP–ED Majority Leader-Elect Hans-Gert Pöttering EPP–ED

  EPP-ED   PES   ALDE   UEN

Hans-Gert Pöttering
EPP–ED

Hans-Gert Pöttering
EPP–ED

Elections to the European Parliament were held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elected national parties aggregated in European Parliamental parties after the elections.

Votes were counted as the polls closed, but results were not announced until 13 and 14 June so results from one country would not influence voters in another where polls were still open; however, the Netherlands, voting on Thursday 10, announced nearly complete provisional results as soon as they were counted, on the evening of its election day, a move heavily criticized by the European Commission.

342 million people were eligible to vote, the second-largest democratic electorate in the world after India. It was the biggest transnational direct election in history, and the 10 new member states elected MEPs for the first time. The new (6th) Parliament consisted of 732 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).