Elections and voting systems · GCSE Citizenship Studies

Voting in the UK

At the time of writing, you must be 18 to vote in UK general elections. 16- and 17-year-olds can vote in Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd elections, and the UK government has announced plans to lower the voting age to 16 for all UK elections. In Guernsey, the voting age has been 16 since 2007.
You must be on the electoral register. Voters in Great Britain must show photo ID at polling stations for UK general elections. You can also vote by post or by proxy.
General elections must be held at least every five years.
Turnout is the percentage of registered voters who vote. It was about 60% at the 2024 general election.

Used for UK general elections. Each constituency elects one MP; the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority.
Advantages: simple, quick, usually produces a single-party government, and a strong link between MPs and constituencies.
Disadvantages: seats don't match vote share (in 2024, Labour won 411 seats with about 34% of the vote), smaller parties lose out, and many votes are "wasted". It can create safe seats.

Proportional representation (PR) systems give parties seats roughly in proportion to their votes.
The Scottish Parliament uses the Additional Member System (a mix of FPTP and party lists). The Northern Ireland Assembly uses the Single Transferable Vote (STV). The Welsh Senedd uses a proportional party-list system.
PR is fairer to smaller parties but often produces coalition governments.

A referendum is a vote on a single issue. Examples: the 2011 vote on changing the voting system (rejected), the 2014 Scottish independence referendum (55% No) and the 2016 EU referendum (52% Leave).

General election: An election for all seats in the House of Commons.
Constituency: An area represented by one MP.
Turnout: The percentage of registered voters who vote.
First past the post: A system where the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.
Proportional representation: Systems giving seats in proportion to votes.
Coalition: A government formed by two or more parties.
Referendum: A vote on a single issue.
Electoral register: The official list of people entitled to vote.