UK elections-Wikipedia

There are four types of UK elections : the general elections, the elections of devolved parliaments and assemblies, the local elections and the municipal elections. These elections are generally held on a Thursday ( Election Day ).

Traditionally, the British system is biparism, that is to say a more or less regular alternation between two opposite political edge parties; The two main parties are the Labor Party ( Labour Party ) and the Conservative and Unionist Party ( Conservative and Unionist Party ) – More commonly called the Conservative Party (C onservative Party ).

Today, six electoral systems are used: the majority uninominal election in a turn ( Single member plurality system or First-past-the-post ), the multinominal majority ballot ( Multi member plurality system ), the mixed majority purpose system ( Party-list proportional representation ), the unique transferable vote ( Single transferable vote ), the mixed system parallel to proportional purpose ( Additional Member System ) and the Supplementary Vote .

Any individual over the age of 18, British citizen or born in Ireland, in a state of the Commonwealth (including the Fiji Islands, Zimbabwe and Cyprus) can register on the electoral lists ( Electoral Register or Electoral roll ) of his residence district.

In 2010, the lists had more than 45 million people registered.

The general elections are, in the United Kingdom, the elections by which voters and electricities elect their representatives, the members of the Parliament ( Members of Parliament or MPs in English), in the House of Commons ( House of Commons ) at the Westminster Palace. The members are elected at the scale of a constituency; A constituency allows the election of only one member. The member’s mandate cannot exceed 5 years, and therefore, the government in place must organize elections with this deadline. In fact, the elections are often anticipated; The parliamentary mandate rarely reaches 5 years. The current room is made up of 650 deputies, but this was not always the case. To adapt to demography, new constituencies were gradually created over time. But members who do not wish to lose their seat and especially the electorate that supports them, it was rare that the already existing constituencies were abolished. Thus, the constituencies went from 615 in 1918 to 651 in 1992 ^{[ first ]} .

Voting [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The processing of the ballot is a unique particularism for European countries. It’s about First-past-the-post that one can translate by “the first arrival prevails”. It is therefore a majority uninominal election in a turn. Clearly, voters and electricals called to the ballot boxes can only slide one bulletin comprising a single name among the candidates. During the counting, the candidate who came to the top of the votes takes the constituency, including – and this is often the case – if he does not have an absolute majority of votes. There is no minimum threshold to win the ballot ^{[ 2 ]} . This expression comes from horse racing fields, very common in the United Kingdom, where the winning horse is the one who first passes the post ( First past the post ) ^{[ 2 ]} .

This voting mode has several virtues. First, it gives a quick result. Then, the system, which is one of the simplest in the world, is easy to understand ^{[ 2 ]} . This non -proportional system has other advantages that come from its own faults. Elected members cannot represent the population, such as a political photograph. However, this system makes it possible to quickly identify a clear majority, most of the time absolute; The system gives a kind of premium to the party who came at the top of the voices expressed.

This system therefore has more negative consequences. Almost all parliamentarians are constantly in the minority on the scale of a constituency. This system is accused of promoting the useful vote to the detriment of the conviction vote. What is more, it disadvantages minor parties which on a country scale represent a political weight, but not at the scale of a constituency. Thus, the party for the independence of the United Kingdom ( Ukip ) will gain only one district – a parliamentarian – for an electoral weight of 12.6% ^{[ 2 ]} . This majority, most often absolute, is based only on a large third of voters most of the time, which contributes to the regular renewal of the lower chamber ^{[ first ]} ; With such a system, the members are very close to their voters and electricities, not hesitating to no longer support the government from their rank according to political upheavals; The deputies preferring their constituency to the support of the government, the latter asks the monarch the dissolution of the room and the organization of new elections.

Government formation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

By convention, the leader of the party arrived at the head is the candidate for the post of Prime Minister; Members of the government can only be appointed within Parliament (lower room and upper room), the party leader must be elected. If necessary, the parliamentary majority is looking for a chief among his benches to apply. In theory, the monarch has everything to choose the Prime Minister from the members of the Parliament. In practice, the king or the queen in power chooses the man or the woman best placed to form a government supported by the lower chamber. In cases where a general election does not produce a clear majority ( Hung Parliament ), the different parties discuss each other in order to constitute a pact ^{[ 3 ] , [ 4 ]} . However, the government in power at the time of the elections remains in place to either, the resignation of the government, or, a vote of distrust or a vote of unfavorable support following a speech of the throne, or, after the loss The support of the monarch (in practice, the monarchs still support the governments in place since the Queen Victoria).

A government in the impasse or not supported may request or be advised by the monarch a dissolution of the lower chamber, and thus trigger new general elections.

Fresh Election [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

If after an election, the monarch, by his speech of the throne, does not manage to garner support for the constituted government (Prime Minister appointed in the various political edges), a Fresh Election can be organized. This is close to the presidential election. It consists of a new general vote, where voters and electricities designate the new Prime Minister ^{[ 4 ]} . This vote operates on the principle that the government is formed by the monarch (“Her Majesty government”); Due to the irresponsibility of the monarch, the king or the queen who proposes a policy (the discourse of the throne, in reality the intentions of the new government) cannot be held responsible for the failure to constitute a government. Thus, the monarch asks his subjects to decide in a way.

Censorship [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

As in most modern democracy, a government may be invited to resign (or to be removed) if it does not obtain (or no longer) the confidence of the Parliament – in this case, the responsible room (s) (in France the National Assembly). All members of the Parliament have the ability to file a motion of censorship against the government ^{[ 5 ]} . In the United Kingdom, it is up to the government to decide on the agenda. Thus, it may be rare that a motion is discussed, at least quickly ^{[ 6 ] , [ 5 ]} . However, by convention, if the motion is filed by the head of the official opposition group, the government has the obligation to quickly register on the agenda of the lower chamber the motion and to let the parliamentarians discuss it ^{[ 6 ]} . If it is adopted (always a simple majority in the United Kingdom) ^{[ 5 ]} , the ruling party (because its coalition is theoretically in the majority) has 14 days to form a new government, formalized by the monarch ^{[ 7 ]} . Otherwise, general elections are summoned by the sovereign. After a motion of censorship, an disapproved head of government can request a dissolution of the monarch, as was the case in 1979 ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ]} . This may make one think of the French system where after the vote of a censorship motion, the president dissolved the National Assembly, as if to ask the nation to decide the political dispute. Note that a government can seek itself the vote of a censorship motion ^{[ 6 ]} .

Resignation [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

By us and customs, the “Constitution” of the United Kingdom provides that a Prime Minister, either on his own, or by the lack of confidence of his cabinet (government), can resign ^{[ 8 ]} . In this case, the government is not under censorship and is not necessarily removed, even if in theory the sovereign has everything to constitute (and undo) his government. We consider that this is an internal affair to the government and its majority. Clearly, or the Prime Minister resigns from his post, and the majority therefore has, as for a censorship, about fifteen days to give a new government, or he leaves not his post as Prime Minister but that of his party leader . In this case, tradition accepts that it remains in power to send current affairs until a successor is designated by his colleagues, which can take several weeks ^{[ 9 ] , [ 8 ] , [ 7 ]} . However, it should be noted that a Prime Minister resigns most often by asking the monarch for a dissolution of the lower chamber ^{[ 9 ]} .

A vote of internal distrust of the Tories party can be implemented if 15% of the group’s deputies claim by letter to the president of the meeting the distrust of the Prime Minister ^{[ ten ] , [ 11 ]} . If the majority of the group disapproves of the policy of the party leader, the latter is not technically obliged to resign, but no longer being the leader, he will not be invited to lead the next general elections of the Party and cannot, In all likelihood, being appointed Prime Minister by the monarch ^{[ twelfth ]} . In fact, this provokes the resignation of the Prime Minister and his replacement, at least interim.

Scottish Parliament [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The government of Tony Blair, elected in 1997, launched several reforms including that of offering a local parliamentary initiative for the constitutive nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, this resulted in the Scotland Act from 1998, creating an Scottish Parliament ( Scottish Parliament ) Monocameral sitting in Edinburgh in the Holyrood district ^{[ 13 ]} .

The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 members elected according to a mixed election with a proportional purpose, also qualified as a system of additional members (AMS) ^{[ 14 ]} . Scotland elects its parliamentarians in 2 constituencies: a local (73) and a regional (56). In the first constituency, the system is identical to that of the general elections; Local members are elected by the majority of the majority in turn: the first in mind wins the election. During the ballot, voters and electricities vote at the same time for “regional” representatives. Scotland is cut into 8 regions with 7 deputies attached to each of the said regions. On the voting bulletin, in each of the constituencies, the voters and the electricities vote both for a name and at the same time for a regional list ^{[ 14 ]} . Depending on the results, the seats are divided between the lists from the head of the list in second position, then third, etc. ^{[ 15 ]} .

This list system is slightly more complex on two points. First, a list can be made up of a single person, which has the advantage of having it elected at the scale of a constituency but of an entire region. In this way, minority candidates increase their chance of being elected by recovering votes on the scale of a region and not a single district ^{[ 15 ]} . Second, a candidate can appear on a regional list but also in free candidacy in a constituency. In fact, a candidate or a candidate elected in a local constituency will give way to his package appearing after him, if he is also elected on a regional list ^{[ 15 ]} .

Welsh parliament [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The government of Tony Blair, elected in 1997, launched several reforms including that of offering a local parliamentary initiative for the constitutive nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In Wales, this resulted in the Government of Wales Act from 1998, creating a Welsh Parliament (in English: Welsh Parliament , in Welsh: The Welsh Parliament ) Monocameral sitting at Cardiff. This law is supplemented by the Government of Wales Act from 2006 which created a local government ( Welsh Assembly Government ), separated from the assembly ^{[ 16 ]} .

The election of the members of the Seedd is in every way identical to the Scottish system. The members are 60 elected officials in 40 districts and 5 regions (4 parliamentarians per region). The process is the same. The only major difference from the fact that minors aged 16 and 17 have the right to vote. The mandate is 5 years.

North Irish assembly [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

London assembly [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

external links [ modifier | Modifier and code ]