As a result of the supranational character of the European Union, the election of the European Members of Parliament have some peculiarities compared to elections with the components of national parliaments. In accordance with article 137 of the Treaty of the European Union, the European Parliament is made up of representatives of the peoples of the States joined together in the Community (art. 137), elected by direct universal suffrage (art. 138).
The elections are held in accordance with Community regulations, although they are received and developed by the national legislation for each election. But apart from the peculiarities of each election regarding, e.g., the day on which they take place in each of the member states, the most relevant peculiarity of these elections is the recognition within the member states, of the right to active and passive suffrage of nationals from the other states.
As envisaged in Section VI of the Organic Law of the Spanish General Electoral System, which regulates the special dispositions for the European Parliament, persons residing in Spain are entitled to active suffrage (art. 210) and passive suffrage (art. 210), even without having acquired Spanish nationality if:
a) They are citizens of the European Union;
b) They meet the requirements to be a voter or to be eligible, in each case as demanded by Spanish law and the law of the state where they are nationals.
c) They have chosen to assert their right to active suffrage in Spain, in the case of asserting this right, or to formally declare that they will not stand simultaneously as a candidate for the parliamentary elections in any other member state.
The Treaty of the European Union establishes the number of deputies each member state is entitled to elect, but the national laws regulate rules on incompatibilities and ineligibility, the electoral system, regarding the variations on constituencies and the criterion on the attribution of powers that exist within the Union as well as the peculiarities of the electoral procedure with respect to the national election systems.
