UK 2024: Why Do Popular Parties Win Few Seats?

July 05, 2024
Collected
  • UK 2024: Why Do Popular Parties Win Few Seats?

Reform Conservatives received 119 seats on 24% of the vote, while the UK gained just four seats with 14% of the vote.

This anomaly arises from the UK's plurality voting method, known as "first-past-the-post," which functions differently from the several proportional representation systems employed in numerous other nations.

Across the four UK countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, there are 650 constituencies.

Voters in each constituency make one choice from a list of candidates and, after the votes are counted, the candidate with the most votes wins the seat in the House of Commons.

If a party wins a large number of seats by small margins, it will be reflected through an imbalance between overall votes and overall seats won. Theoretically, one party could win 51 percent of the vote in every seat, while another could win 49 percent in every seat. The first party would receive 100 percent of the seats, however.

The party that reaches 326 seats – one more than half of the total 650 – will form a government without the need for a coalition with other parties, regardless of how well other parties perform. The party with the second-highest number of seats forms the official opposition.

If no party wins 326 seats, the party with the most seats may agree to form a coalition with another party.