Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: European Commission President Jose Manuel BARROSO *
• Head of Government: President of the European Council Herman VAN RUMPOY
• Assembly: European Union has a unicameral European Parliament with 736 seats.

* The president of the European Commission is designated by member governments and the president-designate then chooses the other Commission members. The European Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a five-year term.

Description of electoral system:

• The European Commission President is designated by member governments to serve a 5-year term.
• In the European Parliament 736 members are elected by proportional representation to serve 5-year terms.***

*** Member states may choose their own electoral systems so long as they are based on proportional representation or the single transferable vote. The Council of the European Union is the main decision-making body of the EU. In the Council, 27 member-state ministers have 345 votes, the number of votes being roughly proportional to member-states' populations.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: European People's Party and European Democrats (EPP-ED)
  • Leader: Joseph DAUL
  • Seats won in this election: 265
• Party: Party of European Socialists (PES)
  • Leader: Poul Nyrup RASMUSSEN
  • Seats won in this election: 184
• Alliance: Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe (ALDE)
  • Leader: Graham WATSON
  • Seats won in this election: 84
• Alliance: European Greens - European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA)
  • Leader: Monica FRASSONI, Daniel COHN-BENDIT
  • Seats won in this election: 55
• Alliance: European Conservatives and Reformists
  • Leader: Michal KAMINSKI
  • Seats won in this election: 54
• Alliance: European United Left – Nordic Green Left
  • Leader: Francis WURTZ
  • Seats won in this election: 35
• Alliance: Europe of Freedom and Democracy
  • Leader: Nigel FARAGE and Francesco SPERONI
  • Seats won in this election: 32
• Independent(s): Non-Inscrits
  • Seats won in this election: 27

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 491,582,852 (July 2009 est.)
• Registered Voters: 382,682,177 (June 2009 )