ELECTIONSGroup 1:

1. Pham Hong Duong2. Dang Thuy Trang3. Tran Thi Lan4. Nguyen Thi Mai5. Tran Thanh Phuong6. Pham Thi Linh7. 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.

this money back

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 USAQuestion : 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.

POLLING DAY

• 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.

Electionnight

Trần Thị Thanh Phương

E l e c t i o n n i g h t

• 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.

E l e c t i o n n i g h t

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 a handful of results have been

declared, experts(with the help of computers) will be making predictions about the composition of the newly elected House of Comm .

4. By two in the morning at least half of the constituencie will have declared their results.

Fill the gaps:the race to

declare

11a handful of

results

elected House of Commons half of the

constituencies

the newly

E l e c t i o n n i g h t

5. Unless the election is a very close one, the experts on TV will be able to predict with confidence which party will have a majority in the House of Commo , 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 WalesProtestant 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

Þ Do you think the Labour party could win again?- But in 1997, the picture changed dramatically.+ Labour won the largest majority in the House of Commons achieved by any party for 73 yearsAnd the Conservative share of the total vote was lowest in 165 years

what was the reason?

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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