Выборы и избирательная процедура

Лекция № 8. Elections and the Election Procedure.

I. The Rules.

II. The Election Procedure.

III. How Elections Work.

I. The Rules. The foundations of the electoral system were laid in the Middle Ages. Since then numerous Acts of Parliament have modified the system, but never in a systematic way. Fundamentally the system still has its ancient form, with each community electing (now) one representative to serve as its Member of Parliament (MP) until the next general election.

The country is divided into 651 constituencies and each constituency elects one member of the House of Commons. The franchise (right to vote) became universal for men by stages in the 19^th century; hence the rise of the Labour Party. Women’s suffrage came in 2 stages (1918 and 1928), and in 1970 the minimum voting age was reduced to 18. So everyone over 18 has the right to vote, except criminals and certified lunatics. Members of the House of Lords are not allowed to vote either. Voting is not compulsory, but in the autumn of each year every householder is obliged by law to enter on the register of electors the name of every resident who is over 17 and a UK citizen.

There are two types of parliamentary election: a general election and a by-election. A general election may be called by the Government at any time but must be within 5 years of the previous one. If an MP dies, retires or resigns his or her seat between general elections, a by-election is held to replace him (her).

The maximum legal life for a Parliament is 5 years. A general election is held either when the limit for the duration of Parliament has been reached, or when the Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister, dissolves Parliament. The Prime  Minister is  bound to do this if his (her) Ministry is defeated on an important issue by the vote of the House of Commons.

II. The Election Procedure.

When it is decided to hold a general election, the Old Parliament is dissolved and 20 clear days must elapse before the new Parliament meets. A notice, or writ, has to be sent to each constituency, where the Returning Officer makes provisions for the holding of the election. Approximately 3 weeks before the day of the election, people in each area receive brochures from each political party, giving details of their policies. People also receive an official polling card to stop people voting more than once. On the election day, the voters go to the polling stations and tell the clerks their names and addresses. This is checked against the electoral register, and the voter is given a ballot paper containing a list of all the candidates in that area. The voter marks the paper in private. The paper then goes into a sealed ballot box. When the polling station is closed, all the boxes are taken to one central point, usually a townhall, and opened. This happens in all 651 constituencies. After all the votes have been counted in each constituency, the Returning Officer announces the results.

According to this system, the candidate who gets most votes in a particular constituency wins the seat in Parliament. It does not matter whether the winning candidate gets 20% or 70% of the total votes, provided he (she) gets at least one more vote than each of the other candidates. The party that wins the greatest number of seats in Parliament takes the power.

III. How Elections Work. Voting takes place in all 651 constituency on one day. The Prime Minister can choose the date of an election, with only 3 or 4 weeks’ notice, at any time that seems favorable, up to 5 years and no more.

Until 1918 the Conservatives (Tories) and Liberals (formerly Whigs) took turns at holding power, then Conservatives and Labour. The Labour party, formed in 1900 in alliance with the Liberals, replaced them as the second major party after 1918.

The most important effect of the electoral system, with each seat won by the candidate with most votes, has been to sustain the dominance of two main rival parties, and only two. One forms the Government, the other the Opposition, hoping to change places after the next general election.

At an election the people choose ‘a Parliament’ for five years and no more; (but only one Parliament, so defined, has lasted its full 5 years since 1945).

The two-party system which the essential feature of modern British government is a product of the electoral system, rather than a reflection of the wishes of the people. Both Conservatives and Labour claim that the existing electoral system, which sustains the two-party dominance, is better than any other, and their objective arguments for it are the following:

First, all the people of each constituency have one MP to represent them and their interests.

Second, the system gives the people a clear choice between two alternative seats of leaders and policies.

Third, it gives stable government for up to 5 years at a time.

Fourth, because any person with realistic political ambitions must join one of the two main parties, each party includes a wide range of attitudes.

Therefore, fifth, each party’s programme, being a compromise, is likely to avoid extremes – and a Government knows that within 5 years of taking power it must again face the judgment of the voters.

There are few parliamentary democracies with this method of choosing a winner. Critics say it is unfair, because the proportion of seats which a party holds does not reflect the proportion of voters which that party received in the nation as a whole. To counteract this, the Liberal Democrats want to introduce a new system called Proportional Representation. In this system, the number of MPs representing each party is in proportion to the number of votes that the party received in the whole country. The existing system benefits the leading parties and discriminates against the smaller parties. Some argue that this keeps radical parties at bay.