Flintshire Council prepares for European elections

Residents across Flintshire could be off to the polls next month to cast their votes in the European Parliamentary Election.

The UK was supposed to leave the EU on March 29, which would have meant we’d not be taking part in European Parliament Elections again.

However, Theresa May brokered a move for Britain to remain a member state of the EU until 31 October, with the option to leave earlier if the prime minister can secure House of Commons support for her Brexit deal.

To avoid European Parliamentary Election MPs must pass a withdrawal deal by May 22.

So with uncertainty as to whether the UK will take part in the elections and vote for their new MEPs on May 23 local authorities across the UK are legally required to publish the notices and get preparations underway.

Flintshire County Council has now posted details including a Notice of Election on its website.

Unlike the General and Welsh Assembly Elections which sees the likes of Flintshire vote for representatives just for the local area, the European Parliamentary Election is a Wales-wide vote for four MEPs.

There are 73 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the UK, the four elected by voters in Wales back in 2014 were:

– Derek Vaughan
– Nathan Gill
– Dr Kay Swinburne
– Jill Evans

The deadline for nominations is 4pm on April 25. The four Wales candidates will be announced later that day.

The last EU Elections back in 2014 saw a turnout in Flintshire of just 31 per cent, overall turnout in Wales was 32 per cent.

If you are a European Union citizen from a country other than the UK, Republic of Ireland, Malta or Cyprus you will need to register separately to vote at a European Parliamentary election in the UK.

Key dates:

Deadline to register to vote: Tuesday, 7 May 2019
http://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Deadline to apply for a postal vote: 5pm Wednesday, 8 May 2019
https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-by-post

Deadline to apply for a proxy vote: 5pm Wednesday, 15 May 2019
https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-do-i-vote/voting-by-proxy

Election day Thursday, 23 May 2019 !