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HOME : DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

How you get elected

  • General Elections – First Past the Post in single member constituencies
  • European Parliament – Closed List System – voters choose a party and parties in each region get the number of seats proportional to their vote in the region (except in Northern Ireland)
  • Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and London Assembly – Additional member – voters have one vote for a candidate in a single member constituency and a second for a party – constituency members are elected first past the post and the party vote is used to top up the number of members in each region to produce a result broadly proportional to the vote in that region
  • Local elections in England and Wales – First Past the Post in single or multi-member wards
  • Mayor of London and Police and Crime Commissioners – Supplementary Vote – voters give a first and second choice and if no candidate wins on first choices then second choices are distributed to give a winning candidate
  • All elections in Northern Ireland and Scottish local elections – Single Transferable Vote – voters order as many candidates as they want to in multi member constituencies – a quota is defined by dividing the number of seats into the overall number of votes cast – candidates with first preferences below the quota are eliminated and candidates above the quota are elected and their votes distributed on the basis of their second choices to other candidates and so on until all seats are filled.

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