Almost 11 million Portuguese can vote for the EP, with more than 641 thousand new voters

Some 10.9 million Portuguese voters, of whom more than 641,000 are newcomers, are called to take part in the country’s European elections scheduled for June 9, Eurostat said this Thursday.

As part of the elections for members of the European Parliament (EP), which will take place from June 6 to 9, the European Union’s statistical office has collected voter data from its counterparts in member states.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, there are 10.9 million voters in Portugal (residents at home and abroad), of which 641,779 will vote for the first time to elect Members of the European Parliament.

Based on 27 national estimates, Germany has the largest number of voters (64.9 million), followed by France (49.7 million) and Italy (47 million).

At the opposite pole – with the smallest numbers – are Malta (400 thousand), Luxembourg (500 thousand) and Cyprus (700 thousand).

As for voters who will choose their representatives in the EP for the first time, the largest number also belongs to Germany (5.1 million), France (four million) and Italy (2.8 million), while the smallest is on the contrary, on the other hand, Malta ( 20 thousand), Cyprus (37 thousand) and Estonia (70 thousand).

As a percentage of the total number of eligible voters, the highest rates of new voters are estimated in Belgium, France and Germany at 9.7%, 8.0% and 9.9% respectively.

It should be noted that in Germany and Belgium, as well as in Austria, Greece and Malta, the minimum voting age is 16 years.

EU voters will choose between June 6 and 9 their 720 representatives in the European Parliament, with a minimum of six and a maximum of 96 from each country, with Portugal electing 21.

European elections are held every five years and the number of MEPs is determined before each election and cannot exceed 750 plus the President of the European Parliament.