How does the British electoral system work?
Britons elect 650 new MPs to the House of Commons, comparable to our House of Representatives.
The country is divided into 650 constituencies, where each party nominates a candidate for one seat. Independents can also contest that seat. The candidate with the most votes wins.
That organization -‘First passed the postIn words – strong in favor of big fish. The United Kingdom has historically been dominated by two parties: the Conservative Party, nicknamed the Tories, and the Social Democratic Labor Party.
Coalition governments are rare, although the Conservatives under David Cameron have had to govern alongside the social liberal Liberal Democrats and Cameron’s successor, Theresa May, has had to rely on the tolerable support of the Northern Irish Protestant DUP.
These constructions are quite exceptional in the United Kingdom. Minor parties play an important role in elections. Apart from the LibDems and DUP, there are also the Greens, Scottish Nationalists and Welsh Social Democrats. Additionally, there is Nigel Farage’s new right-wing populist Reform UK, who was the biggest advocate of Brexit at the time.
