European elections results 2019: When are UK results announced, what time and how to watch live updates

BRITAIN voted on Thursday, May 23, in the EU Parliament elections as Theresa May continued to battle for her political career before stepping down.

Here’s when people will know the results and how the whole electoral system works.

When are the results announced?

In the UK, the results are expected to begin being announced at pom Sunday, May 26 – three days after the voting took place.

Voting across the EU takes place between May 23 and 26 so not every member state votes on the same day.

The Netherlands and the UK voted on May 23, followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic on Friday, May 24.

Slovakia and Latvia then vote on Saturday and all other EU member countries have gone to the polls today.

The full results are not expected until after Monday, May 27.

How can I watch live results?

BBC1 will broadcast the results live from 10pm on May 26 with a special election programme.

Sky News will also be covering the event with live coverage from 9pm.

How do the EU Parliament elections work?

All EU citizens, as long as they are registered to vote, have the right to vote in the European elections.

The UK uses the D’Hondt system of proportional representation which means the number of MEPs a party wins is directly related to the percentage of votes it receives.

Voters choose a single party instead of an individual candidate.

This means all political parties have the chance to send representatives to the European Parliament.

The proportion of seats given by a party directly reflects the proportion of votes won.

In the first round of counting, the party with the most votes is allocated a seat for the candidate at the top of its list.

Under the D’Hondt method, each party’s total number of votes is repeatedly divided – until all seats are filled – by divisor 1 + the number of seats already allocated.

If it is still top it gains another seat. If not, whichever party has the most votes then gets the seat instead.

The original vote count of the largest party in each round is divided by one plus the total number of seats they have already been allocated, until all the seats for the region have been handed out.

Although the method is considered to be one of the most constant and representative forms of voting, the results do not exactly reflect the votes, as this would lead to parties winning fractions of seats.

EU voters go to the polls every five years to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Each country has a specific number of seats based on their population size.

The smallest is Malta and they have six seats, whereas the largest is Germany with 96.

There are 751 MEPs in total and the UK has 73.

Candidates can stand independently or with a party.

They will represent a region of their country, and the number of MEPs for each region depends on population.

Why is the UK taking part in the EU elections?

The government confirmed the country would be taking part in the EU elections in early May after May administration was forced to push back the date it was leaving the bloc because MPs could not get a majority for her withdrawal agreement.

As the UK was still in the EU at the time of the elections it is forced to take part even though the majority of voters said they wanted to leave in the referendum vote.

The UK went to the polls to elect MEPs on May 23, 2019.

The vote is said to have cost around £150million to hold.

If a Brexit deal is agreed before the election date or soon after then the UK’s MEPS will not take their seats.

But if that doesn’t happen then the newly elected MEPs will take their place in the European Parliament – which sits in Brussels and Strasbourg – in early July.

European Council President Donald Tusk has said that MEPs could sit for “months or even longer” if the negotiations drag on.

At this stage, how long the UK MEPs will continue to sit is anyone’s guess.