Brussels unveils plans to halt sliding Euro election turnout Turnout in European elections has been on the slide in every successive vote since the EU parliament was first directly-elected in 1979. Now the latest bright idea from Brussels is hold the vote on the same day in each country to boost participation. That will be problematic for the UK, where ballots are traditionally cast on Thursdays. Six nations hold their European elections on Saturday, whilst the rest of the 17 EU member states choose to vote on Sundays. Another idea being floated by Eurocrats is allow each political party sitting in the parliament to pick a candidate to lead the European Commission.