ELECTIONS
Group 1:
1. Pham Hong Duong
2. Dang Thuy Trang
3. Tran Thi Lan
4. Nguyen Thi Mai
5. Tran Thanh Phuong
6. Pham Thi Linh
7. Vu Thi Thanh Xuan

The system
+The system of political representation that is
used in Britain evolved before the coming of
democracy.
+The House of the Commons is simply
gathering of people who each represent a
particular place in the King Dom.

•The system was in place before the development
of modern political parties.
+ Everybody votes for a candidate because he or
she belong to particular party .
• MP is the first and foremost a representative of
a particular locality .
=> the electoral system is remarkably simple.

Anybody ,who want to be an MP must declare
himself as candidate in one of these
constituencies
• Polling day ,voters go to polling stations and are
each given a ballot paper.
• The candidate with the largest number of
crosses next to he or her name is the winner and
becomes the MP for the constituency .

At the 2001 election
+659 constituencies
+ 659 MPs were elected

FORMAL
ARRANGEMENTS
1. It is the ……………… which decides when to hold an election.
2. The law says that an election has to take place at least every
……………. However, the interval between elections is usually a
bit shorter than this. A party in power ………………..……… until
the last possible moment.
3. After the date of an election has been fixed, people who want to be
candidates in a constituency have to deposit ……………… with
the Retuning Office.
4. They get this money back if they get ……..……….... of the votes or
more. The local associations of the major parties will have already
chosen their candidates and will pay the deposits for them. Yet, it is
……………. to belong to a party be a candidate.
5. To be ………….. to vote, a person must be at least …………… and
be on the electoral register.

The Campaign
• British elections are comparatively quiet
affairs
• Question: is there tradition of large rallies or
paradies in the USA?
• There is no tradition of large rallies or
paradies as there in the USA
Question : What does the campaign reflect?
• The campaign reflects the contrast between
the formal arrangements and political reality
Trần Thị Lan

• Formally, a different campaign takes places in
each constituency
Question: What do the candidates have to?
• The candidates have to submit detailed
accounts of their expenses for inspection
• Nearly everybody votes for a candidate on the
basic of the party which he represent
• Few people attend candidates’ meetings,
most people do not real local newspaper
• It is at a national level that the real campaign
takes place

• Always take place on a Thurday.
• They are not public holidays. People have to
work in the normal way.
• The only people who get a holiday are
schoolchirden whose school are being used as
polling station.

• Open 7 a.m to 10 p.m
• polling station is the specific room (or part of
a room) where voters cast their votes
• Polling stations are usually set up in public
buildings such as schools, community centres
and village halls near where you live.

The process of election
• Each voter has to vote at a particular polling
station.
• After being ticked off on the electoral register,
the voter is given a ballot paper.
• After the polls close, the marked ballot paper
are taken to a central place in the
constituency and counted.

Trần Thị Thanh Phương

• Both BBC and ITV start
their programmes as soon
as voting finishes.
• With millions watching,
they continue right
through the night.
• Certain features of these
“ election specials”, such
as the “swingometer” have
entered popular folklore.

1. The first excitement of the night is .
2. If the count has gone smoothly, this usually occurs at just
after pm.
3. By midnight, after only have been
declared, experts(with the help of computers) will be
making predictions about the composition of
.
4. By two in the morning at least
will have declared their results.
Fill the gaps:
the race to declare
11
a handful of results
elected House of Commons
half of the constituencies
the newly

5. Unless the election is a very close one, the experts on TV
will be able to predict with confidence which party will
have , and therefore
which party leader is going to be the Prime Minister.
6. However, some constituencies are not able to declare
their results until well into Friday afternoon. Because 2
reasons:
a majority in the House of Common
They are very rural =>> it takes long time to
bring all the ballot papers together
The race has been so close that one or more
‘recounts” have been necessary.

RECENT RESULTS AND THE FUTURE
 The middle of 20th century: election is the fight
between Labour and Conservative
 The north of Englad and most of inner areas of
English cities : Labour MPs
 The south of Englad and most areas outside the
inner cities : Conservative MPs

 During the
1980s : the
vast majority
of MPs
represent
Labour
 Since the
1970s : the
respective
nationalist
parties in
both
countries
have won a
few seat in
Parliament

The Liberral party was
strong in Scotland and
Wales
Protestant Unionist MPs and
Catholic Nationalist MPs
has about the same
proportion in Northern
IreLand
+Protestant Unionist MPs:
2/3
+Catholic Nationalist MPs
:1/3

From 1945 to 1967 :
The Conservatives were
more successful than the
Labour
+ Labour : 2/5 occasions
was the majority
comfortable
+ Conservatives : won a
majority 7 times

In the 1992 election, the Conservatives
won for the fourth time in a row
- This is the first time this party had been achieved
for more than 160 years
- Labour’s share of the total vote had generally
decreased in the previous four decades while
support the third party had grown since the early
1970s
Do you think the Labour party could win again?
- But in 1997, the picture changed dramatically.

Voting habits in Britain, reflecting the weakening of the class
system, are no longer tribal
Labour party was regarded as the political
arm of the Trade unions, representing the
working class of the country
But now, Labour party got rid of its trade
union image
it is capable of winning as many middle
class vote as the Conservatives, so that the
middle class majority was identified by
sociologist, does not automatically mean a
Conservative majority in the House of
Commons

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