As a general rule it can be said that the electoral system has a major influence on the development of any political system. Indeed, this is especially true of the link between the first-past-the-post system and a two-party system. Great Britain has long been viewed and even admired as a classic example of this system. The text on this page deals with elections, the political consequences of the electoral system and voting patterns in Great Britain. Other influencing factors on the structure of the party-political system will be dealt with in the sections on system of government and parliamentary .

Elections are held in Great Britain for the national parliament in Westminster, the parliaments in Northern Ireland (Stormont), the regional councils and for the European Parliament. The turn out for council elections is traditionally low (40 percent and below) and even lower for European elections (between 32 and 36 percent). Between 72 and 78 percent of those entitled to vote usually turn out for general elections.

The British electoral system is geared towards producing a majority for an individual candidate in each constituency. This system is known as the first-past-the-post system. The candidate for whom the electorate cast the most votes becomes the Member of Parliament for that constituency in the House of Commons. The term first-past-the-post is a metaphor form horse racing in that the candidate whose nose is in front of the others at the finishing post wins. Votes cast for the other candidates are disregarded (...).

The electoral system creates a close relationship between constituency and MP. Because ministers have to belong to one of the houses in parliament, a defeat in their constituency means they are unable to hold government office. The elected MP is traditionally the person to whom citizens turn with political and social questions and MPs are seen as messengers in the House of Commons. The MP is usually well known locally, but to win doesn't necessarily have to have been around for a long time. Candidates often carry out door-to-door campaigning during an election in order to speak directly to a large number of voters. A British election campaign is far shorter and cheaper than in Germany and uses less advertising money for things like posters and pop concerts (...).

The first-past-the-post system usually creates a clear majority. It regularly distorts election results in favor of the large parties and they usually do not need to enter into a coalition to form the government. Only the large parties can expect to win enough seats to form a government. The number of votes cast in individual constituencies for smaller parties is limited and they can only ever hope to gain a handful of seats. These constituencies are the places in which the smaller parties enjoy traditional support or where tactical voting takes place to dislodge a member from one of the larger parties. Tactical voting is where supporters of one of the larger parties vote for one of the smaller parties in an effort to unite forces and dislodge the majority party in the constituency. This electoral system creates a situation in which the smaller parties are unfairly represented in the House of Commons vis-à-vis the number of votes cast. An alliance between the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party in 1983, for instance, resulted in 25.4 percent of the vote, yet they only received 3.5 percent of the seats in parliament. Indeed, support for the Labour Party was only fractionally higher at 27.8, yet they received 32 percent of the seats. In the 1997 election the newly united Liberal Democrats only managed to get 16.8 percent of the vote. But their number of seats in Parliament increased to seven percent thanks to tactical voting on behalf of Labour voters for the Liberal candidate.

Critics of the British electoral system have been demanding a more fair system of proportional representation since the 19th century, in which the will of the people could be better reflected. Indeed, it was this very first-past-the-post system and the under-representation of the Catholic nationalist minority in Northern Ireland that was partially responsible for the outbreak of violence and the troubles in Northern Ireland during the 70s. Ever since, regional, parliamentary and European elections have been carried out using the single-transferable-vote system (STV) which is also common in the Republic of Ireland. STV ensures that the smaller parties have a fairer bite of the cherry, since more than one person is elected in each constituency (mostly five or six). Each voter has one vote (single vote). Voters number the candidates according to their own preference. First to be elected are those who manage to get enough first preferences to reach a previously set number of votes. This first count, however, is not sufficient to appoint all the constituency's representatives. The next count removes the weakest candidates form the count. The next step takes into account the second, third and other voter preferences to make it possible for candidates to reach the set number of votes required (transferable vote). In this way the relative strength of the parties is reflected more fairly, meaning that in Northern Ireland both sections of society are represented effectually (...).

The 1997 general election provided confirmation that voting patterns in Great Britain, like in other democracies, are becoming more influenced by issues and the presentation of the candidates in the media and less by traditional party ties. During the sixties the social background of individuals and the way in which they voted were strongly linked. The Conservatives were widely regarded as the Party of the middle classes and business community, while the Labour Party with its demands for the redistribution of wealth was the traditional home of the working classes. In 1964 approx. three quarters of the middle class supported the Conservative Party and two-thirds of the working class the Labour Party. While these sections of voters could still be identified for both the Labour and Conservative Parties in 1997, in percentage terms the number of middle class and working class people voting Labour had become closer. Indeed, the same is true for the Conservative Party. In addition to the reduced importance of social factors for determining voter preferences, the number of people that identify themselves with a party is also decreasing. In the mid sixties around two thirds of voters stated that they identified strongly with one of the political parties, today this figure has dropped to less than 40 percent. It is becoming increasingly tempting for voters to make their decision based on their own personal interests, political programs and candidate preferences, a fact that is reflected clearly in the tendency to vote according to what is best for one's own pocket. Increasingly, British voters are casting their vote based less on political conviction and more as "consumers" of the political policies on offer. The Labour Party rose to this strategic challenge by bringing into doubt the ability of the Conservative Prime Minister, John Major, and renaming itself "New Labour" for the coming election. To this end, Labour was successful in presenting itself as something new in the "marketplace", for which independent middle class people and even top company directors could vote.

Even if the importance of social structures for voting patterns has reduced, it remains undisputed that the Labour Party still profits from these. People who belong to certain sections of society and perhaps have close links to trade unions or live in council-owned property are more likely to vote Labour. It has to be said, however, that such affiliations have generally become less important across the whole of society. In regional terms, support for the Labour Party comes mainly form Scotland, Wales, the north of England and the main urban areas. In the south of England it is often the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats who battle it out for votes. On top of the traditional nature of competition between the parties, competition for key policy areas is becoming more intense: Which Party do voters think most likely to create stable economic growth and guarantee law and order? Since 1945 these key areas of policy have been entrusted to the Conservative Party. 1997 represented a turning point for the Conservatives. Following the exit of the pound from the European monetary system in 1992 because of the pressure put on it by the financial markets, the Conservatives were unable to win back the trust of the electorate on economic issues. In addition to this, Labour also began projecting itself as the party of law and order. It also became clear that the Conservatives were having difficulty appealing to large sections of the population such as young people, ethnic minorities and women. And perhaps most surprisingly of all, even the business community on which the Conservatives has always been able to count were now expressing doubts about the Party's skepticism towards Europe.

[Taken and translated from: Roland Sturm: Politische Willensbildung; in: Informationen zur politischen Bildung 262, "Großbritannien", Bonn BpB 1999]

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