General elections are held every 5 years in the UK to elect members of parliament using a first-past-the-post system. This system can result in disproportionate representation of smaller parties and many MPs being elected with less than half of the vote. There are various ways for individuals to participate in politics beyond just voting, such as joining political parties, trade unions, volunteering, or running for office. Political participation has expanded over the last 50 years to include more civic organizations and ways to influence government between elections.

1. POWER AND
POLITICS
General elections and participation in the political
process.

2. LESSON AIMS • Know how general elections work
• Understand the process of electing a
government
• Be able to identify the various ways that
an individual can participate in the
political process and how this has
changed over time

4. GENERAL • Held every 5 years
ELECTIONS IN • Elects the members of the House of
THE UK Commons
• One person one vote
• Secret ballot in the constituency where
we live
• First past the post – 326 seats wins a
majority in parliament and in the
constituency a one vote majority will
win the seat
• Hung parliament – coalition

5. FIRST PAST THE POST
• Disadvantages • Advantages
• Many MPs will be elected by less • Each constituency elects its
than half of their constituency own MP to represent them
members voting for them
• Usually ensures that one
• Smaller political parties will be
political party wins enough
underrepresented – they may
have a larger percentage share of
seats to form a government
the vote than they have seats in
government – this is the principal
argument for proportional
representation
• In the 2005 election the Liberal
democrats won 22% of the vote
but only 9 seats

6. SAFE SEATS • 2005 election
• Conservative candidate for Croydon
Central won by 75 votes
• The Conservative candidate for
Kensington and Chelsea won by 12,418
votes
• The Labour candidate for Crawley won
by 37 votes
• Which seats are “safe” and which are
“marginal”?
• Define safe and marginal seat.

7. HOW CAN WE • Narrow view….
PARTICIPATE • Voting in elections
IN POLITICS? • Standing for public office
• Joining a political party
• Broad view (Beetham 2002)
• Being involved in trade unions
• Tenants associations
• Volunteering

16. BEETHAM • Citizenship participation can help the
2002 government be more democratic
between elections
• The government is made aware of the
vires of the people
• Citizens act as a check on and a form of
control over the government

17. TASKS • How has political participation changed
over the past 50 years?
• What reasons do the Power Commission
give for this?
• Create a diagram to show the reasons why
people may choose not to vote in general
elections?
• What are the characteristics of MPs?
• How can we explain the low numbers of
female MPs?