Britain: An official handbook > 1993

BRITAIN 1993: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
a total electorate of 43'3 million people voted
in the general election in April 1992. The
simple majority system of voting is used.
Candidates are elected if they have more
votes than any of the other candidates
(although not necessarily an absolute majority
over all other candidates).
Candidates
British citizens and citizens of other
Commonwealth countries, together with
citizens of the Irish Republic, may stand for
election as MPs provided they are aged 21 or
over and are not disqualified. Those
disqualified include undischarged bankrupts;
people sentenced to more than one year’s
imprisonment; clergy of the Church of
England, Church of Scotland, Church of
Ireland and Roman Catholic Church; peers;
and holders of certain offices listed in the
House of Commons Disqualification Act
1975. The latter include holders of judicial
office, civil servants, some local government
officers, members of the regular armed forces,
police officers, some members of public
corporations and government commissions,
and British members of the legislature of any
country outside the Commonwealth. A
candidate’s nomination for election must be
proposed and seconded by two electors
registered as voters in the constituency and
signed by eight other electors.
Candidates do not have to be backed
by a political party. A candidate must
also deposit £500, which is returned if
he or she receives 5 per cent or more
of the votes cast.
The maximum sum a candidate may spend
on a general election campaign is £4,330 plus
3 7 pence for each elector in a borough
constituency, or 4 9 pence for each elector in
a county constituency. Higher limits have
been set for by-elections in order to reflect
the fact that they are often regarded as tests
of national opinion in the period between
general elections. The maximum sum is
£17,323 plus 14-7 pence for each elector in
borough seats, and 19-4 pence for each elector
in county seats. A candidate may post an
election address to each elector in the
constituency, free of charge. All election
expenses, apart from the candidate’s personal
expenses, are subject to the statutory limit.
The Political Party System
The party system, which has existed in one
form or another since the eighteenth century,
is an essential element in the working of the
constitution.12
The present system depends upon the
existence of organised political parties, each
of which presents its policies to the electorate
for approval. The parties are not registered or
formally recognised in law, but in practice
most candidates in elections, and almost all
winning candidates, belong to one of the
main parties.
For the last 150 years a predominantly
two-party system has existed. Since 1945
either the Conservative Party, the origins of
which go back to the eighteenth century, or
the Labour Party, which emerged in the last
decade of the nineteenth century, has held
power. A new party—the Liberal
Democrats—was formed in 1988 when the
Liberal Party, which could trace its origins to
the eighteenth century, merged with the
Social Democratic Party, which was formed
in 1981. Other parties include two nationalist
parties, Plaid Cymru (founded in Wales in
1925) and the Scottish National Party
(founded in 1934). In Northern Ireland there
are a number of parties. They include the
Ulster Unionist Party, which was formed in
the early part of this century; the Democratic
Unionist Party, founded in 1971 by a group
which broke away from the Ulster Unionists;
and the Social Democratic and Labour Party,
founded in 1970.
Since 1945 eight general elections have
been won by the Conservative Party and six
by the Labour Party; the great majority of
members of the House of Commons have
belonged to one of these two parties. The
percentages of votes cast for the main
political parties in the last general election of
April 1992 and the resulting distribution of
12 For further details see Organisation of Political Parties (Aspects
of Britain: HMSO, 1991).
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