• Research Briefing

    Candidates’ addresses on the ballot paper

    A new clause was added to the Political Parties and Elections Bill at report stage on 2 March 2009 which would allow candidates to withhold their home address from publication. There has been a provision to require a candidate to give his home address on the nomination form, from where it is transferred to the ballot paper, since the Ballot Act 1872. This Note looks at the background to this requirement and at earlier calls for the practice to be discontinued.

  • Research Briefing

    Marginal seats

    This note lists UK Parliament seats by marginality using results for the 2005 General Election. Majorities are measured by both numbers of votes and shares of the vote inpercentage points.

  • Research Briefing

    2009 European Parliament Elections

    Voting in the 2009 European Parliament elections will take place across the EU from 4 to 7 June. In the United Kingdom voting will be on Thursday 4 June 2009. The number of UK MEPs is to be reduced at these elections from 78 currently to 72. On the basis of the 2004 results, the UK's six fewer MEPs would have meant reductions of three MEPs for the Conservatives, two for the Liberal Democrats and one for Labour. For Great Britain, seats in the European Parliament are allocated to Parties according to a "d'Hondt" quota system which operates for each region. For Northern Ireland a different system of Single Transferable Vote is used. This note sets out the changes to the number of seats by region and what this would have meant if the 2004 elections had been fought on this basis.

  • Research Briefing

    US Elections 2008

    Elections for US President, Senate, House of Representatives and 11 State Governors, 4 November 2008. Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama won the US Presidential Election, defeating the Republican candidate Senator John McCain.

  • Research Briefing

    Weekend voting

    This Note also looks at earlier proposals to move polling day to the weekend and at electoral pilot schemes held at local elections where electors have been able to vote at the weekend preceding the election or, in one instance, at the weekend instead of on the Thursday.

  • Research Briefing

    Electoral Pilot Schemes

    The Representation of the People Act 2000 enabled local authorities to pilot a range of new electoral procedures. Details of the different types of pilot schemes that have been run since 2000 are given, including the pilots held at the May 2007 local elections.

  • Research Briefing

    General Election Dates 1832-2005

    This note gives the dates for all UK General elections since 1832. The span of dates for elections which took place before 1918 indicates the first and last polling days for that General Election. Polling took place on one day only for the first time in 1918. The note also gives details of changes in Prime Minister/Party administration between General Elections; the name of the first Prime Minister to serve is in bold, and any subsequent Prime Minister, who formed an administration before the next General Election, is in brackets.

  • Research Briefing

    The Welsh Assembly elections May 2007: the formation of the Welsh Assembly Government and recent developments in the Assembly

    This Standard Note summarises the results of the Welsh Assembly elections in May 2007; the nomination of the First Minister and formation of the Welsh Assembly Government and recent developments in the National Assembly for Wales, including the election of the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer, the election of the Assembly Commission and the setting up of committees. It also looks at the way in which the Assembly will be able to acquire new powers (via Legislative Competence Orders) to pass legislation called Assembly Measures.

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