B. Further information

ELECTIONS

Part I: Elections in Britain

A. Basic information.

Work in pairs. Before you read the text below discuss what you know about the elections in Britain. Pool all the vocabulary connected with elections. Write down 5 questions about the electoral system of Britain that you would like to know the answers to. Now read the text and see if you can find the answers to your ques­tions.

Text A.

Elections to the House of Commons, known as parliamentary (or general) elections, form the basis of Britain's democratic system. Britain is divided into 650 areas, called constituencies. Each constituency is a one-member constituency, as it is rep­resented by one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons. The leader of the party which has the most MPs in Parliament becomes the Prime Minister.

General elections take place at least every five years. In practice, elections are held before the end of the five-year term. In exceptional circumstances, such as during the two world wars, the life of a Parliament has been extended beyond the five-year term.

The decision on when to hold a general election is made by the Prime Minis­ter. The procedure involves the Queen, acting on the Prime Minister's advice, dis­solving Parliament and calling a new Parliament. The Prime Minister usually an­nounces the dissolution and calls the general election. Voting takes place within 17 days of the dissolution, not including Saturday and Sundays and public holidays: therefore, election campaigns last for three to four weeks.

All British citizens may vote provided they are aged 18 years or over and are not legally barred from voting. All voters must be registered as resident in a constituency on a specified date. Voting in elections is voluntary. On average about 75 per cent of the electorate votes. People who are not allowed to vote include:

- peers, and peeresses in their own right, who are members of the House of Lords

- foreign nationals

- people kept in mental hospital

- people serving prison sentences; and

- people convicted within the previous five years of corrupt or illegal election practices.

Anybody over 21 can stand for election providing they are not disqualified. Those disqualified include:

people who are bankrupt

- people sentenced to more than one year's imprisonment

- clergy of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church

- members of the House of Lords; and

- a range of public servants and officials, specified by law. They include judges, civil servants, some local government officers, full-time members of the armed forces and police officers.

Candidates do not have to live in the constituencies for which they stand. Most candidates in elections and almost all winning candidates belong to one of the main political parties. Candidates who are members of smaller political parties or groups, or who do not belong to any party, may also stand. Since the second world war the great majority of MPs have belonged to either the Conservative or the Labour party. There is also an influential centre party called the Liberal Democrats, and another much smaller centre party known as the Social Democratic Party (SDP). There are also nationalist parties from Scotland, Northern Ireland and.Wales.

Polling Day

Polling for parliamentary elections takes place on Thursdays. The hours of voting are 7.00 to 22.00, no break is allowed. Each voter goes to a polling station in his/her constituency. Voters have their names checked against the election register before they are given ballot papers. The paper lists the names of candidates in al­phabetical order, with a brief description of the candidates or their political parties. Voting takes place in booths, which are screened to maintain secrecy. Voters mark their ballot papers with a cross in the box opposite the name of the candidate of their choice and then fold the paper to conceal the vote, before placing it in the ballot box. Voters who spoil their ballot papers by mistake can vote using a fresh ballot paper once the first ballot paper is cancelled.

After the end of polling the ballot boxes are sealed to prevent further votes from being added. The votes must be counted as soon as possible after the end of polling. The candidates and their agents have the right to be present. The number of papers in the box is counted and checked against the ballot paper account. After this, papers are sorted according to the candidates for whom they are marked. Doubtful papers are put aside and the returning officer decides whether they are valid. If the result is close, candidates or their agents may seek a recount; the deci­sion is made by the returning officer. If the number of votes is equal, the winner is decided by drawing lots.

Let us imagine that the result was as follows:

Adams Con 25,000

Johnson SDP 7,000

Maxwell Lab 19,000

Thomas Lib Dem 11,000

The winner is Adams, even though the total of the votes for the other candidates was greater. Adams, then, will represent the constituency in the House of Com­mons. If this type of result is repeated in other constituencies, the make-up of the House of Commons will not necessarily accurately reflect the way that people voted across the country. This voting system is commonly called the first-past-the-post system. It favours a two-party system, particularly when the parties' support is concentrated geographically, as is the case with the Conservative and Labour parties. It doesn't favour parties whose support is spread across constituencies, such as the Liberal Democrats, as they tend to accumulate relatively small numbers of votes in each constituency and consequently do not win many seats.

Tasks:

1. Describe how the first-past-the-post system works.

2. Speak about the polling day.

3. What is a one-member constituency?

4. What is the difference between the House of Lords and the House of Commons as regards the elections?

5. What are the main political parties in Britain?

6. Do you consider it a sound practice that

- the voting age in Britain is 18

- voting in elections is voluntary

- members of the House of Lords are not allowed to vote or stand for election

- people can stand for election at the age of 21

- members of the clergy, the armed forces and police officers are nor allowed to stand for election

- the candidates and their agents have the right to be present at the count.

7. What other qualifications do you know that can prevent people from voting? What do you think about them? What is qualified majority voting? Use a diction­ary to help you.

8. The text says that 'on average about 75 per cent of the electorate votes' in Brit­ain. Is it the same in your country? What does it depend on? How could you paraphrase this quotation using the words turnout or poll. (A dictionary may be helpful here).

9. Comment on the meaning of the following quotation from a newspaper: 'Look at the parliamentary map of Britain and there is a solitary red blob in the middle of the South Coast'. What other 'political colours' do you know?

B. Further information

Choose one of the following small texts and study it (make sure you under­stand the gist, copy out all the words and expressions concerning elections and look those you don't know in the dictionary). Be ready to speak about the text to one of your fellow-students.

1. Registering voters

An electoral register for each constituency is prepared annually by electoral registration officers — usually senior local government officers. Registration offi­cers arrange either to send forms to, or for their representatives to call on, every household in the constituency. Householders must give details of all occupants who are eligible to vote; failure to do so may lead to the individuals concerned being fined. This information is used to compile provisional electoral lists, which are dis­played in public places in order to give individuals the opportunity to check that their names are included or to object to inclusions. People who disagree with the fi­nal decision of the registration officer may appeal to the courts.

2. Postal and proxy voting

Voters who are likely to be away from home at the time of an election — for example, on holiday or business — or who are unable to vote in person at the poll­ing station, may apply for a postal or a proxy vote. The latter is a vote cast by a person authorized to vote on behalf of another. Postal ballot papers can be sent only to addresses in Britain. Votes must reach the returning officer by the close of poll. The returned envelopes must contain declarations of identity and sealed ballot pa­per when the postal votes are sent and received. Before the votes are counted postal ballot papers are mixed with ordinary ballot papers.

Nomination

Candidates must be nominated on official nomination papers giving their full name and home address. A political or personal description of up to six words may be included. The nomination paper must be signed by ten electors, including a pro­poser and a seconder. At the same time a sum of 500 pounds must be deposited on behalf of each candidate: candidates who receive less than 5 per cent of the votes cast in the subsequent election lose this deposit. Candidates from the main parties very rarely lose their deposits.

Candidates normally belong to one of the main political parties. However, smaller political parties and groups also put forward candidates, and individuals without party support also stand.

4. Election agents

Each parliamentary candidate must appoint an election agent, and by the end of the period for the nomination of candidates the name and address of the agent must be given to the returning officer. Agents are responsible for running the cam­paign and, in particular, for controlling expenses in line with the legal restrictions on election campaign expenditure. Some agents are full-time salaried officials who act as party organisers in one or more constituencies. They are normally paid by lo­cal constituency parties. Many more agents work on a part-time or voluntary basis.

5. Canvassing

Canvassing involves local party workers visiting the homes of voters and ask­ing them whether they intend to vote for their party's candidate. During the cam­paign canvassing can provide candidates and their helpers with an indication of people's voting intentions and their attitude to particular issues. This enables them to adapt their campaign tactics. During polling day party workers can revisit the homes of those people who have promised to support their party and, if they have so far failed to vote, urge them to do so. In practice few constituency parties con­duct comprehensive canvasses, as these would involve visits to the many thousands of homes in each constituency.

6. Manifestos

All Britain's main political parties publish manifestos during general election campaign. Such publications are the result of a considerable amount of work by senior party members in the period before elections are announced, and are in­tended to tell the electorate what the party would do if it formed the next govern­ment; they therefore cover party policy on a range of matters. If elected, parties can claim a popular mandate from the voters for policies contained in their manifestos. Manifestos are usually launched by each of the parties at press conferences in the first week or so of the campaign. They have titles which are in the form of slogans, designed to sum up the parties' messages. Manifestoes normally open with fore­words by the respective party leaders. They cover party policies in varying degrees of detail, but may also set out the parties' past achievements and attack the policies of their opponents

7. Campaign Publicity

All the main parties produce a wide range of publicity material. The national headquarters of the parties are responsible for preparing party election broadcasts for television and radio. They are also responsible for arranging advertising for the party as a whole. The parties also arrange for posters to appear in prominent places and for posters to appear in newspapers.

In individual constituencies local parties are responsible for preparing leaflets and posters. The main form of publicity at constituency level is each candidate's election address. These typically include a photograph of the candidate, some bio­graphical details, and a message to the electors setting out reasons for voting for the candidate and the party he or she represents.

8. Safe and Marginal Constituencies

Most of Britain's 650 constituencies are called 'safe seats'. This means that one or other of the main parties has traditionally enjoyed overwhelming support in elections for the seat concerned. As a result an MP seeking re-election for a safe seat or a candidate from the same party seeking election there could expect to be returned for that constituency in future elections. Such seats are lost only if there is a major decline in the popularity of the party concerned. At present many rural constituencies are 'safe' Conservative seats, most 'safe' Labour seats are in urban areas. There are also regional differences.

The outcome of a general election tends to be decided by the results in mar­ginal constituencies. These are seats where, at the previous election, none of the parties had a large majority. Thus, if there were a small fall in the relative popular­ity of the party holding the seat, a candidate from a rival party would be elected.

9. Tactical Voting

Voters usually vote for the candidate and party which they would most like to see win the election. However, they may decide that the party they support has little the party they would least like to win, they may instead choose to vote for a party which has a better chance of winning than their own first choice. Thus a Labour supporter whose candidate normally came third in elections in a safe Conservative seat might decide to vote for a Liberal Democrat candidate who appears to have a better chance of winning, in the hope of preventing the Conservative candidate from winning. This is known as 'tactical voting'.

10. Election Petitions

Electors or candidates who wish to question the conduct or result of an elec­tion must do so by presenting an election petition which sets out the grounds of the complaint. The petition is considered, in public, by two judges. The election of the successful candidate can be declared void.

11. Parliamentary By-elections

By-elections take place when parliamentary seats fall vacant between general elections, following the death or resignation of an MP, or his or her elevation to the House of Lords. The timing of the by-election is normally decided by the party to which the former MP belonged. By-elections generally take place within three or four months of the vacancy arising. By-election campaigns receive extensive cover­age in the press and on radio and television. The results are much discussed by senior politicians and political commentators, who use the voting figures to argue about the likely result of the next general election and the popularity of the parties' policies.

12. Hung Parliament

A Parliament is considered to be hung if neither of the parties represented in it has an overall majority of at least 326 out of 651 seats. In a hung Parliament the Prime-Minister usually has the first move. He can try to cut a deal with enough mi­nority parties to ensure his government is not voted down an May 6 when it pres­ents its legislative program. If he cannot command enough support to hold on, he can tender his resignation to the queen. At this stage the queen is most likely to ap­point the leader of the opposition party as prime minister and give him the same op­portunity of cobbling together enough votes to form a government. A party leader can cut two kinds of deals with smaller parties:

- a formal coalition in which the smaller party would have seats in the cabinet and a role in making government policies

- a looser alliance in which the smaller party would agree not to vote down the government in return for certain policy concessions. If both leaders fail to reach agreements then the prime minister can ask for a disso­lution of Parliament and a new election.

Tasks

1. What kind of election do we call universal? Can the British type be called so? Give your reasons. Look in the dictionary the words Franchise and Suffrage — find what they mean and how they are used. Who do you call a suffragette? Find some historical facts describing the fight for universal suffrage in Britain.

2. Using the Reference Texts on Parties prepare one kind of publicity material in favour of one of the parties:

-a party manifesto

- an election address by the party's candidate

- election broadcast

- newspaper advertisement

- leaflet paster.

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