Phil Symons
Math 111
10/16/07
England and its electoral system
England has a long history of different types of election schemes in the country.
England was ruled by kings in its early stages of building up into a country. To become a
king of England you were born into a family of royalty, mainly the family that was in
power at the time. When the king died, his son or daughter would come to rule and rule
until their death.
The system of having a king rule would not reflect the views of the public and the
people of England wanted to have a say in government. The Reform Act of 1832 helped
to do away with the idea of people not having representation in the government. The
power would then switch over to majority landowners and higher nobles with the ability
to tax the land they owned. Eventually, the public would have a voice in voting.
England held public elections in the towns to choose their government officials. This
naturally lead to public opinion being influenced by the officials wanting to be elected so
this had to be done away with.
Many reforms took place in England that lead to the election system that they
have today. The Ballot Act of 1872 replaced the open public ballot with the secret ballot.
The secret ballot would led to less government corruption and more fair voting for the
voter. The Corrupt and Illegal Practises Act of 1883 helped to stop people being elected
from bribing voters to vote for them and to stop illegal expenditures for campaigns of
electors. The Representation of the People Act 1884 and the Redistribution of Seats Act
1885 increased the number of seats in the House of Parliament. This would lead to more
people to vote for and would make up for more representation in Parliament.
After years of conflict and corrupt voting systems, as mentioned above, England
found a new voting scheme that they still use today. England is run by two main
influences, the Prime Minister and the House of Parliament and the House of Commons.
England also has five main elections that take place once every five years. The elections
are general, local, regional, European and mayoral. A general election is when all the
seats in the British Parliament are gone and all seats are vaccant. This voting, like all the
others in England takes place once every five years. Local elections are voting for town
or city mayors or other officals that represent that town. Regional elections are when one
person is voted using the plurality method to see who will be the leader of a region of the
country. This is much like a district representitive would act in the United States. The
European election is a when a voter votes for one person to represent the whole country
of England in the European Parliament. Finally, the mayoral election is a vote for two
method of voting meaning that the voter picks their first and second choice of who they
want in office.
In England, they have a Prime Minister to run most of their political affairs and
lead their country. The Prime Minister acts like the president of the country. The Prime
Minister is elected much like the president of the United States. England uses a system
called First-Past-The-Post. The system is similar to the plurality method in that it elects
just one person to govern a country. The person that has the most votes will win the
election.
England’s Parliament is elected the same way as the Prime Minister would be.
One single person is elected by a plurality system from each constituency in England.
Parliament elections are also held every five years but often happen earlier than that due
to death in Parliament or people stepping down.
England has many political parties in the country but there are two main parties
that are the most popular, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. The Labour party
is the most popular party in England at the time. They have a more democratic view on
government. Out of 646 people in the House of Parliament, the Labour Party has 392
seats in it.