THE European elections are to be held next Thursday, but do you know who you're voting for?

The elections are different to what we're used to in terms of local and national votes, due to the use of another 'electoral system'.

For UK votes, the First Past the Post system is used, whereby voters choose a candidate and the party who has the most elected members (the 'majority') wins.

However, for the European elections, Proportional Representation is instead used. This means the electorate votes for a party (or independent candidate), instead of a direct candidate, and at the end of the night parties gain seats in 'proportion' to the number of votes cast for them.

So, in a nutshell, on May 23, voters will be asked to chose which party they want to represent them in Europe, and then a candidate from the constituency's winning party will be assigned to that area.

Check your polling cards for where you need to go to vote.

THE CANDIDATES:

Change UK

  • Rachel Johnson
  • Jim Godfrey
  • Ollie Middleton
  • Matthew Hooberman
  • Liz Sewell
  • Crispin Hunt

Conservative

  • Ashley Fox
  • James Mustoe
  • Faye Purbrick
  • Claire Hiscott
  • James Taghdissian
  • Emmeline Owens

English Democrats

  • Jenny Knight
  • Michael Blundell

Green

  • Molly Scott Cato
  • Cleo Lake
  • Carla Denyer
  • Tom Scott
  • Martin Dimery
  • Karen La Borde

Labour

  • Clare Moody
  • Lord Andrew Adonis
  • Jayne Kirkham
  • Neil Guild
  • Yvonne Atkinson
  • Sadik Al-Hassan

Liberal Democrats

  • Caroline Voaden
  • Martin Horwood
  • Stephen Williams
  • Eleanor Rylance
  • David Chalmers
  • Luke Stagnetto

The Brexit Party

  • Ann Widdecombe
  • James Glancy
  • Christina Jordan
  • Ann Tarr
  • Roger Lane-Nott
  • Nicola Darke

UKIP

  • Lawrence Webb
  • Carl Benjamin
  • Tony McIntyre
  • Lester Taylor
  • Stephen Lee
  • Alison Sheridan

Independent

  • Larch Maxey
  • Mothiur Rahman
  • Neville Seed