P3
By Sean Pulley
Electoral Processes
General Election
A general election is when all the seats within the House of Commons
become available and are open for re-election. The maximum amount of
time a parliament can sit is 5 years and 3 weeks, but often an election
will happen every 3 to 5 years. The decision to have an election before
the maximum time is down to the Prime Minister. This gives people the
opportunity to choose the MP they want to represent them.
Four Electoral Processes in the U.K
First Past the Post (FPTP)
This is commonly used in the British general
election to elect MPs into the House of
Commons and in local elections. The UK is
divided into different voting areas, these are
called constituencies. The candidate with the
most votes in each consituency will be elected
and become the MP for that seat. Then the
party with the majority of the seats gets
elected. In Britain there are 650 seats available
and for a majority to happen they would need
to have a total of 325 seats. From here the
leader of the party with the majority will be
appointed Prime Minister.
This is a map of the constituency’s
A member of public will be able to vote for the that are available in an election in the
party they feel will change the United Kingdom U.K.
for the better and who will represent their
views the greatest. If voting in a local election, then they
will vote for an MP who will represent their area. A
candidate will go to their local polling station and can put
an X next to the candidate they prefer on a ballot paper,
The 1997 General Election
results in which Labour won the
majority.
, these are then counted, and the winning party is then invited by the
Queen to form government. For someone to be able to vote they must
first register, be age 18 or over and not be legally excluded from voting.
There are many advantages to this system, they are, it is very easy to
understand, this is because the system has been around for a long time,
so members of the public are knowledgeable
on the process, it is also easy to understand
the ballot paper. This system allows members
of the public to express a view on the party
they think should form the next government,
they can express and give their opinion on
who they believe should be in government
and if they don’t like who’s elected then they
can vote for someone else in the next
election.
Usually a single party government is formed, this means single parties
don’t have support from other parties to push through new legislations,
this will result in there being less disagreements within the government
and the party will be able to solely focus on what their party wants. With
this process the Prime Minister can have a strong relationship with other
MPs within the constituency, this provides the public an easier way to
communicate with their MPs and thus their opinions getting heard about
more. It’s a quick process to get to the
result, the counting of the ballot papers is a
quick and accurate process and will usually
commence as soon as voting has finished.
This is good as a member of the public can
get a better understanding of whom may be
elected as the results come in.
However, there are also disadvantages to this system such as, a party
can win with only 40% of the votes, meaning the other 60% would have
voted for a different party, this shows that not everyone they are
representing wants them in power, so the party may only have a small
amount of support, the MPs in government may only be representing
the views of their party and not the British public. An individual can cast
a negative vote, this means instead of voting for the candidate they feel
will do the best job they will instead vote against a candidate they dislike
the most which can lead to wasted votes. A voter may also vote for a
By Sean Pulley
Electoral Processes
General Election
A general election is when all the seats within the House of Commons
become available and are open for re-election. The maximum amount of
time a parliament can sit is 5 years and 3 weeks, but often an election
will happen every 3 to 5 years. The decision to have an election before
the maximum time is down to the Prime Minister. This gives people the
opportunity to choose the MP they want to represent them.
Four Electoral Processes in the U.K
First Past the Post (FPTP)
This is commonly used in the British general
election to elect MPs into the House of
Commons and in local elections. The UK is
divided into different voting areas, these are
called constituencies. The candidate with the
most votes in each consituency will be elected
and become the MP for that seat. Then the
party with the majority of the seats gets
elected. In Britain there are 650 seats available
and for a majority to happen they would need
to have a total of 325 seats. From here the
leader of the party with the majority will be
appointed Prime Minister.
This is a map of the constituency’s
A member of public will be able to vote for the that are available in an election in the
party they feel will change the United Kingdom U.K.
for the better and who will represent their
views the greatest. If voting in a local election, then they
will vote for an MP who will represent their area. A
candidate will go to their local polling station and can put
an X next to the candidate they prefer on a ballot paper,
The 1997 General Election
results in which Labour won the
majority.
, these are then counted, and the winning party is then invited by the
Queen to form government. For someone to be able to vote they must
first register, be age 18 or over and not be legally excluded from voting.
There are many advantages to this system, they are, it is very easy to
understand, this is because the system has been around for a long time,
so members of the public are knowledgeable
on the process, it is also easy to understand
the ballot paper. This system allows members
of the public to express a view on the party
they think should form the next government,
they can express and give their opinion on
who they believe should be in government
and if they don’t like who’s elected then they
can vote for someone else in the next
election.
Usually a single party government is formed, this means single parties
don’t have support from other parties to push through new legislations,
this will result in there being less disagreements within the government
and the party will be able to solely focus on what their party wants. With
this process the Prime Minister can have a strong relationship with other
MPs within the constituency, this provides the public an easier way to
communicate with their MPs and thus their opinions getting heard about
more. It’s a quick process to get to the
result, the counting of the ballot papers is a
quick and accurate process and will usually
commence as soon as voting has finished.
This is good as a member of the public can
get a better understanding of whom may be
elected as the results come in.
However, there are also disadvantages to this system such as, a party
can win with only 40% of the votes, meaning the other 60% would have
voted for a different party, this shows that not everyone they are
representing wants them in power, so the party may only have a small
amount of support, the MPs in government may only be representing
the views of their party and not the British public. An individual can cast
a negative vote, this means instead of voting for the candidate they feel
will do the best job they will instead vote against a candidate they dislike
the most which can lead to wasted votes. A voter may also vote for a
