Five years ago, in 2019, Portugal’s abstention rate in the European elections reached almost 70%, while participation was at a historic low: only 30.75% of voters intended to vote.
In 2019, voter turnout fell to historic lows. In these European Parliament elections, only 30.75% of more than 10.7 million registered voters voted.
This was a record that confirmed the downward trend in participation of Portuguese voters in the European Parliament elections, since 2014 had already broken a new abstention record: 66.33% of voters did not turn up to the polls.
With a 69.25% abstention rate in 2019, Portugal bucked the European trend towards greater participation in MEP elections and ranked third in the European Union in terms of participation, ahead of Slovakia and Croatia.
Despite the low turnout in 2019, the number of voters in this election in absolute terms increased by about 30 thousand compared to the number of voters in 2014.
Conversely, Portugal’s best performance in terms of participation in European elections dates back to the 20th century, shortly after Portugal’s entry into the European Community.
In the 1987 European elections, a year after Portugal joined the then EEC, 72.42% of voters went to the polls to choose Portugal’s representatives in the European Parliament, while 27.8% abstained.
Such a low level of abstention in elections was no longer recorded in the first days of Portugal’s stay in the EU. Two years later, in 1989, the abstention rate rose to 48.9% and never fell again.
In 1994, Portugal achieved 64% abstention, its worst result in a century, and failed to lower the 60% threshold again in all subsequent electoral moments.
In 1999, the abstention rate in European countries fell to 60.07% and remained relatively stable until 2009. In 2004, 36.7% of voters turned out to vote (61.4% abstained), and five years later, in 2009, abstentions rose to 63.3%.
Some 373 million European voters are called upon to vote for the European Parliament between 6 and 9 June. In Portugal, voting will take place this Sunday, the 9th.
720 MEPs will be elected, 21 of whom are Portuguese.
A total of 17 parties and coalitions are participating in the elections: AD, PS, Chega, IL, BE, CDU, Livre, PAN, ADN, MAS, Ergue-te, Nova Direita, Volt Portugal, RIR, Nós Cidadãos, MPT and PTP.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.