Party System
Traditionally (with the sole exception of 1923), the United Kingdom effectively has had a two party system arising from the use of the First-Past-The-Post system for general and local elections. Duverger's law certainly seems borne out in the history of British parliamentary politics. Before World War I, the United Kingdom had a true two-party system, the main parties being the Tories (which became the Conservative Party) and the Whigs (which became the Liberal Party), though after Catholic Emancipation there was also a substantial Irish Parliamentary Party. After World War II, the dominant parties have been Conservative and Labour. No third party has come close to winning a parliamentary majority, although Johnston et al. wrote of the elections from 1950 to 1997, "Increasingly, a number of smaller (or third) parties has won a substantial proportion of the votes cast."
However, some have challenged the view that the United Kingdom still has a two party system, since the Liberal Democrats have won around 15%–25% of the votes in recent elections. The Liberal Democrats won 62 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons in the 2005 general election, and several nationalist (regional) groupings hold seats as well, leading some spectators to regard the Westminster parliament as a "two and a half" party system.
Smaller parties receive many more votes (and seats) in the elections using a proportional system, which are the regional elections for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly and London Assembly, and the European Parliament elections. Regional parties, such as the Scottish National Party or Plaid Cymru receive many more votes than at general or local elections, and at European elections, the United Kingdom Independence Party and Green Party of England and Wales perform better. It can be argued that in these elections, there is a multi-party system.
It is relatively easy to stand for election as an independent candidate, although wins are very rare and usually involve special circumstances (for example Martin Bell's 1997 victory against the discredited Conservative MP Neil Hamilton was aided by the major parties standing aside and not contesting the election). Following the 2005 general election, there were three independent MPs, the highest number since 1945, however only one of these was returned in the 2010 election. To stand as a candidate in a particular constituency, a British citizen needs the signatures of 10 people registered to vote there, and pay a deposit of £500 (which is returned if he/she gains more than 5% of the vote in that seat).
Read more about this topic: Elections In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the words party and/or system:
“The party out of office becomes the articulate one.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Justice in the hands of the powerful is merely a governing system like any other. Why call it justice? Let us rather call it injustice, but of a sly effective order, based entirely on cruel knowledge of the resistance of the weak, their capacity for pain, humiliation and misery. Injustice sustained at the exact degree of necessary tension to turn the cogs of the huge machine-for- the-making-of-rich-men, without bursting the boiler.”
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)