The ad to make Brits vote in the EU

Monday, 27 April 2009 12:01 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

A new advertising campaign urging voters to register for the 4th June election has been launched today to avoid another low turnout.

The purpose of the campaign is to increase poll turnout at the European parliament elections, which commonly attracts a bare minimum of votes.

The European parliament vote in 1999 resulted in Britain's lowest ever poll turnout, with only 24 percent of people taking to the poll, according to figures on ukpolitical.info.

The 1999 turnout result put Britain as one of the countries with the poorest record, along with Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.

At the same election in 2004, only 38.4 percent of registered voters turned out. The Electoral Commission has since then struggled to raise political awareness in the country.

The national TV and radio advertising is part of a public awareness campaign by the Electoral commission, an independent body set up by the UK parliament to oversee the election process.

The television advert follows Liz as she heads to the polling station on 4 June. She's keen to have her say on who represents her, but hits an invisible barrier which stops her getting to the polling station.

"Voting is your chance to have your say on the things that matter to you, from the future of our environment to how much your mobile calls cost when you're on holiday or travelling on business," said Clinton Proud, head of campaigns and public information for the Electoral Commission.

The UK vote will decide which 72 candidates will represent the country alongside the other 26 countries in the European parliament.

The number of British MEPs in the European parliament was reduced from 87 due to the EU expansion in 2004.

The deadline for registering is the 19th of May after which UK citizens will not be able to register and therefore will not qualify as voters.

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