Elections

Parliament can fun for a maximum of 5 years - it needs to be dissolved by the Queen before an election. Ultimately, it can be dissolved at any time - if the Government no longer has a majority or an election can be triggered if the government loses a vote of confidence in the Commons. A vote of confidence in the commons is quite rare though. 
Jim Callaghan lost by 1 vote in 1979 - winter of discontent. Due to this one vote, Thatcher won the election and came to power. 
Locke - 'if your going to take things from people you must give them a voice'. John Locke, known philosopher, described the way in which you must be happy with the representation of people e.g. MP's etc. Another known philosopher, Rousseau, believed in a direct democracy which was on the spot. People should be involved in every aspect of this and by it being on the spot it it could be relating to such ways as texting and online for future voting prospects. 


Coalition government has passed a law fixing the date of elections every 5 years, the next occuring on the 7th May 2015.
Up until now, the Prime Minister fixed the date of the elections. It has been tradition to hold them on a Thursday, which has been around since 1935! Little fact of the day there for you!
In order to vote you have to register (on the electoral register) and since you are not automatically on it -even if you pay taxes- roughly 45 million people are already on the register. 


This year there is the US presidential elections and the French presidential elections. Consequently, we do not have a presidential election as our head of state is the Queen herself. We as a country do not directly elect our Prime Minister. 


Voting Polls
England - 37,912,549
Scotland - 3,885,148
Wales - 2,262,769
Northern Ireland - 1,134,983
(Source - BBC)


Citizens living overseas can vote but less than 15,000 of the estimated 5.5 million actually do. 


Who can't vote you ask? ...
- Under 18's
- Prisoners
- People with criminal records
- Members of the House of Lords
- European Union Citizens


Representation of the people act is the law that covers elections.
 In 1918 men over 21 and women over 30 were allowed to vote
1928 - universal suffrage (all adults over 21 were able to vote)
1969 - all adults over the age of 18 had the right to vote but it not compulsory (it is compulsory to vote in Australia)


Who can stand? - Citizens over the age of 18


First Past the Post, Not PR - whoever gains a majority in the constituency is elected. This means that national voting percentages are not reflected in seats. Furthermore, the election comes down to marginals as most votes in safe seats are wasted. There are not many marginal seats and the meaning of them is that it is undecided who will be there. Labour won half the seats in 2005 but only had 35% of the vote. This has lead to people voting tactically by trying to stop the party they dislike rather than choosing their own personal choice. This is tactical voting - for example, a labour supporter in Winchester. 
In the 2010 election most cities voted Labour, which is the working class, however the countryside voted mostly conservative. 


If you want to become an MP you must put down a deposit of £500. This money will be returned if you get at least 5% of the votes cast. This deposit used to be much less but it was changed due to many people running just for the fun as they had about £100 to spare. By having the increase it makes sure the people who are running are serious about it. Spoilt ballets are always disqualified, this relates to people drawing pictures or putting crosses by everyone's names. If there is a close result there can be a recount in some cases. 


Closer to home
In Winchester 1997, Mark Oaten won against Tory MP Gerry Malone by 2 votes in the local election that year. He went to high court and was granted a by-election, resulting in Oaten winning by a landslide.