| 1 |
The
election is traditionally held on a Thursday. But this is only a
convention as the Prime
Minister can call a general election for any day. |
| 2 |
The
last general election not held on a Thursday was held on Tuesday,
October 27th, 1931.The December 1918 election was held on a
Saturday. |
| 3 |
There
will be 646 constituencies contested on May
5th 2005 - less than the 2001
election as Scotland's Commons
representation has been reduced because of devolution.
England has 529 constituencies, Scotland
59, Wales 40 and Northern
Ireland 18. |
| 4 |
The
total number of voters in Britain is 44 million. |
| 5 |
The
constituency with the largest electorate is the Isle of Wight with
108,000 voters. |
| 6 |
The
smallest constituency is the Western Isles with 21,800 voters. |
| 7 |
It
is possible to win the most seats but not to win an overall majority.
However, this has only happened once in recent history - in February
1974 when Labour won 301 seats out of a possible 635. |
| 8 |
A
party can lose an election even if they win more overall votes. In 1951,
Labour polled more votes but won fewer seats. The same happened to the
Conservatives in February 1974. |
| 9 |
The
best Conservative result in terms of seats won was under Margaret
Thatcher with 397 seats won in 1983. The party's worst result was in 1997
when they won 165 seats. |
| 10 |
The
best Labour result was in 1997
with 418 seats won. Its worst performance was in 1983 when the party won
209 seats. |
| 11 |
In
the 2005 election, the
Conservatives will be defending just one seat. |
| 12 |
The
highest voter turnout was in 1950 with a turnout of 83.9%. The lowest
turnout was in 2001 with just 59.4% of people eligible to vote voting. |
| 13 |
In
1918, women aged 30 or over were given the right to vote; in 1928 men
and women aged 21 or over had the right to vote. In 1969, the voting age
was reduced to 18. |
| 14 |
The
first women elected to the Commons
was Countess Markievicz. She represented Sinn Fein and refused to take
up her seat in the Commons. The first woman elected to the Commons who
did take up her seat was Nancy Astor in 1919. |
| 15 |
The
average age for an MP in 2001 was 50 for Labour, 48 for the
Conservatives and 47 for the Liberal Democrats. |
| 16 |
The
first ethnic minority MP was Mancherjee Bhowanggree who won in Bethnal
Green for the Conservatives in 1895. |
| 17 |
After
the 2001 election, the
most common previous occupation for an MP was being a teacher. |
