United Kingdom general elections overview
In the British general election (English general elections ) the Members of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are elected. The duration of the parliamentary term is five years. Since 2010, there are 650 constituencies (English constituencies ), in each of which a seat is awarded by majority vote.
Implementation
A general election must take place before the beginning of a legislature. Their length was since the passing of the Parliament Act in 1911, a maximum of five years. You could be extended by a maximum time required for the election and forming a government (usually five to eight weeks). The Prime Minister was able to lower house election 2010, election date according to his ideas - for example, due to favorable poll numbers - set to any time prior to the expiration of the five-year period (usually after four years ). The period began to run after the newly elected Parliament was convened for the first session. To schedule new elections, the Prime Minister asked the monarch to dissolve Parliament by royal proclamation. New elections were then held 17 business days after the date of proclamation.
With the adoption of the Fixed -term Parliaments Act in 2011 by the Conservative-Liberal coalition fixed 5-year legislative sessions were introduced (Article 1, paragraph 2). Accordingly, the next general election is on May 7 will be 2015 find (Article 1, paragraph 2). Under certain conditions, but also an earlier election is possible ( eg application of 2/3 of all the Members of the House under Art. 2, Section 1 ( b)).
Since 1935 every general election was held on a Thursday. Of the 16 general election since 1945, four were conducted in October, four in June, three in May and two in February.
Suffrage
Each British citizens, Irish citizens, citizens of an EU Member State or a citizen of a Commonwealth country, which is on election day at least 18 years old and lives in the United Kingdom is eligible to vote. Excluded are members of the House of Lords, prisoners, the mentally ill and people who have been convicted during the last five years because of a violation of the election law.
Members of the British royal family are eligible to vote in theory. However, in practice it would be considered unconstitutional if they exercised their right to vote. British citizens who have moved abroad, yet for 15 years remain eligible to vote. Also eligible to vote abroad are members of the military, diplomats and other government officials. Voters must be noted in the register of voters to choose can. You can subscribe to eleven days before the election. There is no duty to vote.
Electoral system
The British Parliament is elected in the majoritarian process (English first past the post). If any party an absolute majority of seats, it forms the new government and the party leader becomes Prime Minister. In the rare cases without a clear majority (see Hung parliament ) form two or more parties form a coalition, in which the leader of the largest coalition party prime minister. Alternatively, a party may also form a minority government, which relies on informal agreements with other parties.
The majority voting leads partly to large distortions. A party that achieved nationally 20 percent of the vote, can readily gain very few seats. Such a party can be outflanked by small regional parties, the nation may unite one percent of the voters in itself, but in certain constituencies have a strong voter base.
This election system has been criticized especially by those parties who would cut a lot better in the application of proportional representation, namely the Liberal Democrats. These do not have as Labour ( poorer districts) or the Tories ( rural districts in England and wealthy suburbs ) over a geographically well-defined electorate and often have to make do by their relative uniform distribution on all channels with rank 2. The Liberal Democrats have some strongholds in the country (central Wales, northern Scotland, South West England, South West London ).
Proponents of majority voting argue
- ( = get one of her party MPs to the House ) that extremist parties have virtually no chance to win a majority of votes in a House of Commons constituency
- That voters are better able to identify with their deputies and
- That the Member so has a stronger interest to vote for the purposes of his constituents, as if he had been elected to Parliament on the list of candidates of his party by list position (then it would be subject to stronger party discipline ). (Note: 299 Members of the German Bundestag shall be elected in parliamentary constituencies ( " direct mandate " ), 299 pull on the regional lists of the parties in the Bundestag. )
Polling stations close at 22:00 clock and counting usually starts immediately. The results will be announced in some cases, around 23:00 clock, in most constituencies this happens 3:00 to 4:00 clock in the morning. In Northern Ireland, the counting starts only on the morning after the election, in which the results are known in the early afternoon.
If the ruling party wins the elections, the government remains in office automatically and must not be confirmed or used. If the opposition has won enough seats to form the government, can the Prime Minister hands over his resignation to the monarch. The monarch then appoints the chairman of the opposition party prime minister, this then appoints the cabinet ministers. In a clear election victory of the opposition, the new prime minister usually occurs within 24 hours after the polls closed ( and sometimes before all constituencies are counted ) his post.
The defeated Prime Minister has the option, even in the event of an election defeat to stay in office. In the throne speech (in which the Monarch program, the government announced ), a clause in a trust or confidence motion for the old government may be included. The last prime minister, who made use of this possibility was Edward Heath in 1974. However, as the coalition talks with the Liberal Democrats failed, he resigned. Then instruct Queen Elizabeth II the chairman of the Labour Party, Harold Wilson, with the formation of a new government. The monarch can then insert a new prime minister, when its predecessor is formally resigned; so he can not force anyone to resign. If the incumbent prime minister was confirmed in office, he usually makes a smaller cabinet reshuffle. The largest opposition party is the "official opposition", also known as " Loyal Opposition Her Majesty " ( engl. Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition).
By-elections
If an MP dies or resigns, the seat of his constituency must be filled by a by-election (English by- election ). These elections are usually insignificant, since the incumbent government has usually had a comfortable majority. Often, the voters tend to by-elections to elect the candidate of an opposition party or a protest party.
Elections then have an impact on the incumbent government if they benefit only a razor- thin majority and this loses a by-election. This was the case recently at the Conservative government of John Major (Prime Minister November 1990-1997). During his tenure (1992-1997) 18 by-elections were held. The Conservative Party lost eight seats and ordered from December 1996 onwards no longer has an absolute majority. Thanks to an unofficial coalition with the Northern Ireland parties, Major was able to hold until March 1997 in the office when the five-year period expired. The lower house elections on 1 May 1997 lost Major; the ruling since 1979 Conservatives lost power to the Labour Party under Tony Blair.
The party that won the election, victory often evaluated as a positive signal and / or as an indication of the popularity of the incumbent government. Most local issues have a much higher value than in general elections, the national policy is secondary. The personality of the candidates has a greater significance.