- Britain is a parliamentary democracy.
- The government should have the support of a majority of lawmakers in the elected lower chamber of parliament, the House of Commons. (Same as Lok Sabha of India)
- Thus, the national election is the election for the House of Commons.
- Voters will elect a member of Parliament for their local constituency.
- Voting is not compulsory in UK.
- Voter turnout at national elections has seen a decline since the 1950s, when it used to be over 80%.
- Britain follows the first-past-the-post electoral system. There is no system of proportional representation for candidates. (Same as India)
- To form a majority government, a party theoretically must win in 326 out of the 650 regional constituencies.
- The upper house is called as the House of Lords whose members are un-elected. (Same as Rajya Sabha)
- The monarch (Queen Elizabeth) enjoys the power to dismiss a Prime Minister or to make a personal choice of successor. (No such powers with Indian President)
- However, the practice in UK is that the monarch does not exercise this right as its is considered as archaic. This is the practice since 1834.
- In addition, as a convention, the queen (monarch) does not get involved in party politics. (Same as Indian President)
FPTP Vs Proportional Representation System:
Under First Past the Post (FPTP) system, a candidate who gets one vote more than other candidate (who comes second) is declared as winner. In proportional representation, number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received