The European Parliament Election, 1989 was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe. This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party of England and Wales (formely the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However because of First Past the Post system, the Green Party received received 0 seats, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The SNP received almost double the amount of votes it received in the previous election, its vote share rose by 1%. The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in aany election since October 1974 and the first time ever in an European elections, winning 13 more seats.
- Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36% (EU average: 59%)
- Overall votes cast: 15,896,078
England, Scotland and Wales
| Party
| Votes
| Seats
| Loss/Gain
| Share of Vote (%)
|
| Labour
| 6,153,661
| 45
| +13
| 40
|
| Conservative
| 5,331,098
| 32
| -13
| 35
|
| Green Party
| 2,292,718
| 0
| 0
| 15
|
| Liberal Democrat
| 994,861
| 0
| 0
| 6
|
| Scottish National Party
| 406,686
| 1
| 0
| 3
|
| Plaid Cymru
| 115,062
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
| Social Democratic Party
| 75,886
| 0
| 0
| <1
|
| Others
| 41,295
| 0
| 0
| <1
|
Total votes cast - 15,361,267
Northern Ireland
Total votes cast - 534,811
Party Leaders in 1989
See Also
Last updated: 06-05-2005 01:47:09
