Most of these elections happen on a fixed schedule. For example, Elections to the House of Commons of the UK happen roughly every five years, called a General Election.
However, sometimes things don't go as planned, and a seat may go vacant. This could be due to the elected member dying, being suspended, or resigning. When a seat goes vacant, a notice of vacancy is published, and an election may be called to elect a new person to take that seat.
This would be called a by-election - simply an election called to fill a vacancy.
Elections are conventionally held on a Thursday. Parliament can only sit for five years at a time. Under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, the Prime Minister can call a general election at any time within those five years.
You may have seen or heard of a "Returning Officer" before, but what do they do? In England and Wales, the post of returning officer for general elections is an honorary one, held by the high sheriff of a county or the mayor/chairman of a local council. If a constituency overlaps district and county borders, the returning officer is designated by the Secretary of State for Justice.
The conducting of the election is actually carried out by the acting returning officer, usually a senior officer in the local authority. The only duties the returning officer can undertake are related to the receipt of the writ (the calling of an election) and the declaration of the result.
Returning officers normally announce the results after the count in the following manner:
If you think that sounds like a horse race, you'd be right. The term 'first past the post' derives from horse racing, where the first horse to literally pass the post wins. That's how our voting system works in the UK.
Voters cast a vote for a single candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins the election. It's known as a plurality voting system - the winner needs only a plurality of the votes and not an absolute majority (greater than half).
The following is an example showing how a candidate can win with a plurality, but not a majority:
| Name | Party | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| PINTO-DUSCHINSKY, David | Labour | 15,855 (38.4%) |
| JOGIA, Ameet | Conservative | 15,840 (38.4%) |
| PEARL, Joshua | Reform | 3,038 (7.4%) |
| BAILEY, Gabrielle | Green | 2,667 (6.5%) |
| ENDERBY, Clareine | Liberal Democrats | 1,966 (4.8%) |
| PALEKAR, Imtiaz | Workers Party of Britain | 1,518 (3.7%) |
| REND, Ben | Rejoin EU | 233 (0.6%) |
| GIBSON, Jane | Social Democratic Party | 139 (0.3%) |
As you can see, the Labour Party candidate was elected MP with just 15 votes more than second place. Only 38.4% of people voted for him, 38.4% also voted for the Conservative candidate. 61.6% of people did not vote for the winning candidate.
Proportional Representation (PR) is a popular alternative to first-past-the-post. There have been many people campaigning for electoral reform, saying we should use PR. What many probably won't know is that PR isn't a voting system, it's a principle which is used in multiple voting systems.
The idea behind PR is that the popular parties of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. When n% of the electorate support a particular party or set of candidates as their favourite, then roughly n% of seats are allotted to that party or those candidates. PR Voting Systems include:
| Party | Percentage of Votes | Seats in Parliament | Percentage of Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 33.7% | 221 | 34% |
| Conservative | 23.7% | 156 | 24% |
| Reform UK | 14.3% | 91 | 14% |
| Liberal Democrats | 12.2% | 78 | 12% |
| Green | 6.7% | 39 | 6% |
| Scottish National Party | 2.5% | 13 | 2% |
| Independent | 2.0% | 13 | 2% |
| Sinn Fein | 0.7% | 8 | 1% |
| Plaid Cymru | 0.7% | 8 | 1% |
| Workers Party of Britain | 0.7% | 8 | 1% |
| Democratic Unionist Party | 0.6% | 8 | 1% |
| Alliance Party | 0.4% | 7 | 1% |