Parliament and Elections

When they speak of the British Parliament they usually mean the House of Commons. It is this House that is elected at a Parliamentary election. This reflects the leading role of the House of Commons though there is the other House in Westminster Palace, the House of Lords.

Westminster is often referred to as ‘Mother of Parliaments’. But British public opinion is getting more and more concerned about the process of the shift of real power to Whitehall, a tendency of a decrease of the role of legislative organs as compared to that of executive. The most important ministries and departments of the civil service are in Whitehall, the broad street which leads down to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Just as the name ‘Westminster’ is often used to mean ‘Parliament’, so ‘Whitehall’ often means ‘the Government’ or ‘the civil service’. The British civil service suggests to many British people bureaucracy – government by paid state officials rather than by persons elected by the people.

The electoral system of Great Britain encourages the domination of the scene by two major political parties. The whole of the United Kingdom is divided into 659 electoral districts, called ‘constituencies’, of approximately equal population, and each constituency elects one member of the House of Commons. Practically no person can stand any chance of being elected except under the name of a party, and a little chance except as a candidate backed by either the Labour or the Conservative Party. In every constituency each of these two parties has a local organization, whose first task is to choose the candidate, and which then helps him to conduct his local campaign.

The choice of the candidates is often more important that it may seem to be at first sight. At least a quarter of the constituencies in Britain can be regarded as ‘safe seats’ for the Conservatives, and the same proportion for the Labour Party. In these places the person who has the nomination for the dominant party is almost sure of being elected to Parliament. If a person is elected to the House of Commons in a ‘marginal seat’ by a small majority, he knows that if the trend of public opinion at the next election is against his party he is quite likely to lose his seat, and that nothing he can do for his constituents will save him. The ruling classes make use of different means to push their people to the supreme organs of power. One of them is artificial alteration in the boundaries of the constituencies or the disappearance of a constituency altogether. A member of Parliament in a safe seat is unlikely to be in any danger at all unless he offends the leaders of his own local association. So long as he votes with his party in Parliament, and does not express opposition to his party’s policies, he is unlikely to be rejected by the association. Now when an important bill is presented to Parliament, members must vote in line with party orders. But if they rebel, they run the risk of being kicked out of their party. Hence too much obedience to the party line gives too much power to the Cabinet and to the Prime Minister.

British subjects and citizens can vote provided they are aged 18 or over, resident in the United Kingdom, registered in the annual register of electors for the constituency and not subject to any disqualification. Voting is on the same day (usually a Thursday) in all constituencies, and the voting stations are kept open from seven in the morning until nine at night.

The elected MPs represent 659 constituencies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The size of the constituencies varies, the average being about 60,000 electors. Although there is no limit to the number of political parties, in effect, Britain has a two-party system of government, since the Conservative and the Labour Party dominate and the system is unfair to other political parties. The last Liberal Prime Minister was the Welshman, Lloyd George, whose defeat in 1922 marked the end of Liberal power. Since that time few Liberal MPs have been elected.

In a British election the candidate who wins the most votes is elected, even if he or she does not get as many as the combined votes of the other candidates. This practice is known as the notorious majority electoral system. A typical example is the result in the June 1987 General election when the Conservative party gained a third successive victory receiving the support of less than half of those who took part in the election A quarter of the electorate ignored the election altogether. The Conservative party with the minority votes (42,3 per cent), as compared to the combined votes received by the rest of the parties, won an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons (375 out of 650). But taking into account those who failed to come to the polling stations, it becomes clear that the Conservatives, though having sound reason to rejoice, gained the support of only about one-third of the British people eligible to vote. The leader of the Conservative party Margaret Thatcher became the first Prime Minister for 160 years remaining in this position a third term.

It is often argued that the British system of election is so unfair that it ought to be changed, by the introduction of a form of proportional representation. This is an election system which seeks to give minority parties representation in Parliament. It aims to give each party a proportion of seats in Parliament corresponding to the proportion of votes it receives in an election. For example, a minority party receiving 5 per cent of the votes at a general election should get 5 per cent of seats.

As soon as the results of a General election are known, it is clear which party will form the Government. If the party which had a majority of seats in the House of Commons has a majority again in the new parliament, then the Government does not change; but if the majority changes from one party to the other, the defeated Prime Minister usually resigns at once, and the Queen appoints the leader of the new majority in his place. The new House of Commons then meets.

General elections, by-elections

A general election (i.e. for all the 650 seats in the House of Commons) must take place at least every 5 years, but it may be held before the expiry of the full five-year term. It depends on the Prime Minister’s decision, because a general election must be held whenever the Prime Minister advises the Queen to dissolve Parliament. This gives the party in power a certain advantage, because the Prime Minister may fix the date for a general election at a time when he believes that his party is supported by the majority of the electorate. His decision may be influenced by the results of by-elections or public opinion polls, though these are not always reliable.

A by-election (i.e. for a vacant seat) is held when a vacancy occurs in the period between general elections, as a result of an MP’s death, resignation or elevation to the House of Lords.

The right to vote

All persons over 18 years of age may vote in parliamentary elections, provided they are British subjects or citizens of the Irish Republic and are registered in the register of electors. The only exception are peers (who already have seats in the House of Lords), and persons who for obvious reasons are not eligible to register as voters, e.g. aliens and persons of unsound mind.

The nomination of candidates

Every person who is a British subject aged 21 or over and is not otherwise disqualified, has the right to stand for election. Those who are disqualified include members of the House of Lords, clergy of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church, civil servants, members of the regular armed forces and the police forces and holders of judicial offices.

A candidate is normally a member of one of the political parties, though he may stand as an independent, i.e. without the backing of any political party. The nomination paper of each candidate must be subscribed (signed) by two electors as proposer and seconder, and by 8 other electors as assenting to the nomination.

The candidate or someone on his behalf must pay a deposit of 150

English pounds. If he polls at least 1/8 of the votes cast, he is entitled to have his deposit returned. But if he fails to obtain 12.5 per cent of the votes cast, his deposit is forfeited (he loses his deposit). The deposit is intended to ensure that the candidate is a serious contestant.

A candidate may withdraw from the election within the time for the delivery of nomination papers, but not later. The notice of withdrawal must be signed by the candidate and attested by one witness and delivered to the returning officer.

At the close of the time for making objections the returning officer publishes the names of the candidates nominated, with those of the proposers and seconders.

The electoral system

For electoral purposes the whole of the United Kingdom is divided into 650 geographical areas, known as constituencies, of approximately equal population (each constituency has about 60,000 voters).

Each constituency elects one member of the House of Commons. A candidate is elected if he has a majority of votes over the next candidate (although not necessarily an absolute majority over all other candidates). In other words, in each constituency only the candidate who receives the largest number of votes is elected, and the votes cast for any other candi- dates are not taken into account. If there are three or more candidates in

a constituency, it often happens that the defeated candidates together have a far greater number of votes than the winner.

Some of the constituencies can be regarded as ‘safe seats’, i.e. those constituencies where one of the parties regularly has a huge majority. The other constituencies are called ‘marginal’, i.e. those where candidates are usually elected by a small majority.

The present electoral system makes it practically impossible for a numerically small party to win the largest number of votes in any of the 650 constituencies. Under the present system most people prefer to vote for one of the big parties; because they do not want to ‘waste’ their votes by voting for a smaller party.

A small party may win seats in Parliament only when its supporters are concentrated in a small number of constituencies, where they constitute a majority: in relatively small areas of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is quite natural that the smaller parties want to change the present undemocratic electoral system and introduce some form of proportional representation. But such a change is opposed by the Conservatives as well as by the Labour Party. They want to maintain the present system by polling out that it produces governments formed by a political party having an overall majority in the House. By amplifying,

as a rule, the parliamentary majority of the strongest party (at the expense of the smaller parties), the present system makes it possible for a party with, e.g. less than 40 per cent of the total number of votes cast to win more than 50 per cent of the total number of seats, i.e. an overall majority in the House of Commons.

The election campaign

In each constituency there is a local campaign in which the candidates are helped by their volunteer assistants. They go house to the house and visit people for the purpose of trying to persuade them to vote for their candidate. This practice is known as ‘canvassing’ and party supporters who do the canvassing are known as ‘canvassers’. Each candidate may hold public meetings.

The main interest, however, is concentrated on the national campaign. Each of the main parties is given an equal amount of time on radio and television. An important role is played by the personality of each party’s leader because in the case of his party’s victory he will become Prime Minister, and many voters regard their voting act as expressing their choice between prospective Prime Ministers.

The Election Agent

Each parliamentary candidate appoints an election agent, who is responsible for the conduct of the campaign and, in particular, for the control of expenses. The agent, who should be familiar with election law and practice, must be appointed on, or before, nomination day and the appointment must be declared to the returning officer. If the agent is anyone other than the candidate the declaration must be made by the agent or accompanied by a written note of acceptance by him. The agent may act without payment or he may be paid a fee which must be included in the maximum amount permitted for a candidate’s expenses.

A candidate’s election agent may also employ paid polling agents, clerks and messengers within the limits of his election expenses, and any number of unpaid polling agents and other voluntary helpers for canvassing, public speaking and clerical work.

The poll

Each constituency is divided into a number of political districts, and in each district there is a polling station. An official poll card is sent to each elector, setting the date and hours of the poll and the location of his polling station. Voting is by secret ballot.

After the poll the votes are counted at a central place in each constituency. The counting assistants usually work in pairs in the presence of the candidates’ agents. Doubtful papers are put aside, and the returning officer decides upon their validity. When voting is very close, a candidate or his election agent may ask for a re-count, or further re-counts. This request may be granted at the discretion of the returning officer.

If the number of votes cast for the leading candidates is equal, the result is decided by lot.

The returning officer must then declare the result of the poll. The declaration is made publicly – for instance, from a balcony outside the hall or place where the count is made. The time between the close of the poll and the announcement of the result varies from constituency to constituency. The majority of results are known within five or six hours of the close of poll while the remainder, chiefly in rural constituencies, are usually declared during the course of the day after polling day.