Elections in Britain Today: A Guide for Voters and Students - Softcover

This book gives a full description of the development of the British electoral system and how it works today, with illustrative details covering the period since World War 2. It includes chapters on the timing of elections, qualifications for voters, Parliamentary constituencies and their boundaries, national and local political parties, candidates, constituency and national campaigning, polling day, by-elections, local elections, Euro-elections, referenda, what influences voters, how much elections cost and how the system is evolving. Annexes contain a mass of electoral statistics and a thorough bibliography.

Providing an account of the ways in which the British electoral system works, this book is addressed primarily at voters, but also at students of political science, government and British constitution at univeristies, colleges and schools. The book answers central questions such as when are elections held?, who can vote?, what happens on polling day?, and how does an individual become an MP. It explains clearly how and why constituency boundaries have to be altered, how the parties are organized, how campaigns are conducted, the role of the media, how reliable are opinion polls and what happens at by-elections. "Elections in Britain Today" also deals with local elections, referenda and elections to the European parliament and describes the features of the electoral systems, including the main variations of proportional representation. Dick Leonard is also the author of "The Backbencher and Parliament", "Guide to the General Election", "Paying for Party Politics", "Pocket Guide to the European Community" and "World Atlas of Elections".