BRITAIN will go to the polls today (Thursday, May 23) for the European parliamentary elections.

The government admitted that the UK would have to take part in the elections after it became clear that Brexit would not be delivered in time to avoid it.

How does it work?

The South East has 10 MEP (Member of European Parliament) seats available.

The South East’s current MEPs are made up of four UKIP representatives, three Conservatives, one Labour, one Lib Dem and one Green.

The elections use the complicated D’Hondt formula, which calculates how many seats should be allocated to each party based on vote share.

If Party A is given four seats, the top four candidates on its list are elected.

Oxford Mail:

Who can I vote for?

See the full list of candidates, listed by party.

This election sees the emergence of two new parties. 

Breakaway party Change UK has 10 candidates, after it was started by a group of anti-Brexit MPs who left Labour and the Conservatives and formed as the Independent group earlier this year. 

Nigel Farage's new Brexit party also fields 10 candidates, having been started by the former UKIP leader in April.

Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, the Green Party, The Socialist Party of Great Britain and the UK European Union Party are also contesting the election, as well as three independents. 

THE FULL LIST

Change UK

  • Richard Ashworth
  • Victoria Groulef
  • Warren Morgan
  • Eleanor Fuller
  • Robin Bextor
  • Nicholas Mazzei
  • Suzana Carp
  • Phil Murphy
  • Heather Allen
  • Diane Yeo

Conservative

  • Daniel Hannan
  • Nirj Deva
  • Richard Robinson
  • Mike Whiting
  • Juliette Ash
  • Anna Firth
  • Adrian Pepper
  • Clarence Mitchell
  • Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky
  • Caroline Newton

Green

  • Alexandra Phillips
  • Elise Benjamin
  • Vix Lowthion
  • Leslie Groves Williams
  • Phelim Mac Cafferty
  • Jan Doerfel
  • Larry Sanders
  • Isabella Moir
  • Oliver Sykes
  • Jonathan Essex

Labour

  • John Howarth
  • Cathy Shutt
  • Arran Neathey
  • Emma Turnbull
  • Rohit Dasgupta
  • Amy Fowler
  • Duncan Enright
  • Lubna Arshad
  • Simon Burgess
  • Rachael Ward

Liberal Democrats

  • Catherine Bearder
  • Antony Hook
  • Judith Bunting
  • Martin Tod
  • Liz Leffman
  • Chris Bowers
  • Giles Goodall
  • Ruvi Ziegler
  • Nick Perry
  • John Vincent

The Brexit Party

  • Nigel Farage
  • Alex Phillips
  • Robert Rowland
  • Belinda De Camborne Lucy
  • James Bartholomew
  • Christopher Ellis
  • John Kennedy
  • Matthew Taylor
  • George Farmer
  • Peter Wiltshire

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

  • Mandy Bruce
  • Raymond Carr
  • David Chesham
  • Robert Cox
  • Michael Foster
  • Stephen Harper
  • Neil Kirk
  • Anton Pruden
  • Andrew Thomas-Emans
  • Darren Williams

UK European Union Party

  • Pacelli Ndikumana
  • Clinton Powell

UKIP

  • Piers Wauchope
  • Liz Philips
  • Daryll Pitcher
  • Martin Brothers
  • Tony Gould
  • Clive Egan
  • Troy De Leon
  • Alan Stone
  • Judy Moore
  • Patricia Mountain

Independent

  • Jason McMahon
  • David Round
  • Michael Turberville