WHEN the UK elects its MPs to sit in the House of Commons, a "first-past-the-post" system is used. This is a simple system in which the candidate with the most votes in each constituency is elected to Westminster as the representative of that seat, reports Justin Hawkins.

By contrast, elections to the European Parliament involve a "closed list" system of Proportional Representation (PR), which is designed to better represent the overall spread of votes cast.

Under the closed list system, the number of MEPs elected from each party should reflect the proportion of votes polled by each party. Electors vote only for the party, not for the individual, unless they vote for an independent candidate standing alone. The party must appoint its MEP from its list and in the order in which they appear on the list.

It works like this: after the ballot papers are returned, the votes are counted and the party with the most votes wins the first seat up for grabs in the election and, accordingly, the party appoints the first person on its "list" of prospective MEPs. Then, and this is where things get complicated, the party which won the first seat has its total number of votes halved.

The next seat goes to the party with the second highest number of votes, as long as it is higher than the now halved total polled by the winners of the first seat. (If no party, or individual, has polled more than half of the first party's total, the second seat will also go to the winner of the first.)

The winning number of votes for the second seat is now halved, and the process continues until all the seats are allocated.

In the NW there are nine EP seats available.

Individual independent candidates can poll enough votes to win a seat, but individuals do not go back into the "list".

Example: In an election there are nine seats up for grabs. 100,001 people vote.

The A party polls 60,100 votes The B party polls 20,000 votes The C party polls 14,900 votes And the D party polls 5,001 votes.

The A party wins the first of the seats. The party's total is halved.

The A party also wins the second seat because half its total (30,050) is still greater than the second place B party's total of 20,000. The A party's new total is halved again to 15,025.

The B party wins the third seat because 20,000 is more than 15, 025 for the new A party total and more than the C party's overall total of 14,900. The B party's total is halved to 10,000 The A party wins the fourth seat with 15,025 which is halved again to 7,512.5.

The C party wins the fifth seat with 14,900 which is halved to 7,450 The B party wins its second seat with 10,000 which is now halved again to 5,000 Seat seven goes to the A party.

Seat eight to the C party.

The D party narrowly beats the B party for the last seat with 5,001 votes compared to the B Party's adjusted total of 5,000.

The A party wins four seats, the B and C parties win two seats apiece and the D party wins one seat.