How to Read an MEP Voting Record
Understanding attendance, roll-call votes, and what they mean.
What is a roll-call vote?
A roll-call vote records how each MEP voted individually. Not all votes are roll-call votes: some are by show of hands. Roll-call votes happen when requested by a political group or at least 1/20th of MEPs.
Vote values explained
Each MEP can vote "for", "against", or "abstain". If an MEP was present but did not vote, they are recorded as absent for that vote. Attendance rate shows what percentage of votes an MEP participated in.
What voting patterns reveal
By looking at an MEP's voting history, you can see how they vote compared to their political group, their national delegation, and the Parliament as a whole. This reveals whether an MEP follows party lines or votes independently.
Using GovLens to track votes
On GovLens, each MEP profile shows their complete voting history, attendance rate, and voting statistics. Each procedure page shows the overall vote breakdown and how individual MEPs voted.