With Parliament rejecting the Brexit withdrawal agreement, and no alternative option forthcoming, it looks like the UK will have to take part in the European elections on 23 May. 

These elections will allow citizens across the entirety of the European Union to vote for their representatives in the European Parliament. The elections take place every five years, and if you are a European citizen, you are eligible to vote - regardless of what country you live in. This means that UK citizens and EU citizens living in the UK can (and should) register to vote. 

The European Parliament is the European institution that citizens can most directly get involved with, and the MEP’s are there to hold the European Commission to account, and has significant say over the budgets. 

The European Parliament is made up of 751 Members of European Parliament, and the UK has 73 MEPs representing it. They come from 12 regions across the UK, and each region elects between three and 10 MEPs. 

We have broken down exactly how the European Union works so do go read that if you want to find out why voting is so important. 

Register to vote

Registering to vote is easy, and you can do it whether you are a UK citizen, or an EU national living in the UK. However, you must act quickly because the deadline to register is 7 May. You need to be 18 years old or over on polling day. 

UK nationals just need to visit gov.uk/register-to-vote. It takes 5 minutes to do.

If you are an EU national, and you would like to vote in the UK instead of your home country, you can follow the advice on this website to make sure you are registered and able to exercise your democratic right.