The general election will decide which party (or coalition of parties) forms the next government. There will be 646 seats in the UK Parliament’s House of Commons up for grabs – down from the current 659 because of changes to constituency boundaries.
WHEN IS THE ELECTION?
Tony Blair has announced 5 May as polling day. The last poll was 7 June 2001, with the new parliament sitting later that month. An elected parliament lasts no longer than five years, therefore this last parliament could have continued until late June 2006. An election campaign takes about four weeks, so the election could have been held in July 2006. Votes are traditionally held on Thursday, but do not have to be. Elections cannot be held on weekends or public holidays.
HOW DOES THE VOTING SYSTEM WORK?
The UK uses a First Past the Post system. To become an MP, a candidate simply has to win more votes than any rival in their constituency, not a majority of votes cast. Critics claim this means many people’s votes are “wasted” and want some kind of proportional representation, where the national share of the vote determines the number of MPs.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE PRIME MINISTER LOSES HIS SEAT?
His party would offer up a candidate, probably the deputy prime minister, to hold the reins temporarily as a caretaker leader/prime minister. The Queen would then call the potential prime minister to Buckingham Palace to ask him whether he would form a government. The governing party would then hold a leadership election.
WHO CAN VOTE?
You must be registered to vote, be at least 18-years-old on polling day, be British or be a Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland citizen living in the UK.
WHO IS BANNED FROM VOTING?
The following are barred from voting in general elections: members of the House of Lords; convicted prisoners; anybody found guilty of election corruption within the last five years; people with learning disabilities or a mental illness who are incapable of making a reasoned judgement.
HOW DO I REGISTER TO VOTE?
It is now too late to register for this election. You can check whether you are on the electoral roll by contacting the electoral services department at your local council. Their contact details are listed on the Electoral Commission’s special website.
HOW DO I VOTE?
Those registered to vote should be sent a polling card about a week before the election, naming your polling station. You should take the card with you to vote, although it is not compulsory and other identification can be accepted.
WHAT IS ON THE BALLOT PAPER?
You will be given an officially marked ballot paper listing all the candidates in alphabetical order of surname, with the description of their party, if they have one. You place an X in the box beside your one chosen candidate.
CAN I VOTE BY POST?
Yes. The general election is not an all-postal vote like the trials held in some regions last year but you can ask for a postal vote from the electoral services department at your local council – whom you should also contact if your polling card fails to arrive. If you apply for a postal vote and then decide you would like to vote in person after all, you must take the whole of your postal voting package to the polling station in order to vote.
If you could vote, what party would you vote for? Take the poll:
would you vote for the Tories because you are spiteful moron?
Or for Labor because you like the way they have managed to outmaneuver the conservatives?
or for the Lib Dems because they opposed the war?
or for completely different reasons?
The Lib Dems, for their whole manifesto. They are the best progressive choice, as Labour has moved too far center (believe it or not). Plus, my grandfather was a LibDem leader for many years in Hereford City, so I owe it to his memory. Charles Kennedy for PM!!!
(I give it about a 5% chance).
The Guardian ran a good piece on Tuesday, worth a read, justifying their support for Labour but sounding positive on the Lib Dems, too. You can find it here: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/comment/0,15803,1475139,00.html
Funniest thing of all are all the complaints about how ‘long’ and ‘bitter’ this campaign was, and how glad everyone is that it is over. Try living in a battleground state here! We should adopt many of the British restrictions, including the limit for each candidate to only five TV ads, of 2 1/2 minutes, that can be shown once.
I had no idea about your grandpops. What part of the country is Hereford City in?
It’s in the midwest, right on the Welsh border. He was actually Labour, then a Social Democrat, before they merged with the Liberals in 1987. He was active in the SDP throughout the 1980s.
“Following Labour’s defeat in the 1979 election, the internecine strife and growing success of the left within the party alienated many MPs and members. Moderate Labour leaders such as Shirley Williams had worked with the Liberal Party during the referendum on membership of the European Community, and during the Lib-Lab Pact which kept Labour in power in 1977-78. On 26 March 1981 a number of them broke away from Labour to found the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The new party attracted members of both the Labour and Conservative Parties and also brought many people into politics for the first time. The Liberal Party and SDP formed an Alliance later the same year, agreeing to fight elections on a common platform with joint candidates.”
From the Liberal Democrat History website.
If I was where he was, I’d vote the Plaid like the Welshman.
But in Finland…now that’s more difficult to call with 6 main parties and lots of strange bedfellows.
and vote, there is little difference in the local constituencies in the UK compared to here. Often, a choice has to be made regarding who is going to have the ultimate best impact on your community as a representative. My congressional district looks like some perverted snake slithering through the gerrymandered bayous and not a block of geographic representation.
The Welshman is holding a UK Poll Day Party over at The New European Times. Polls are still open, so there are no returns, but field impressions are starting to roll in. Give it a look.
There is a cool quiz for those of us outside the UK which uses non-issue specific questions to determine where you are in the political sphere…Are you a Mussolini or a Mandela? It is great fun…turns out I am more of a Noam Chomsky.
Bad link to the party….try this one