Вопрос 32 General election

 In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.

The term originates in the United Kingdom general elections for the House of Commons.

In the United Kingdom

Main article: United Kingdom general elections overview

Crowds wait outside Leeds Town Hall to see the result of the 1880 general election. The people of Leeds elected a Liberal candidate.

The term general election in the United Kingdom often refers to the election of Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. These must be held every five years, but may be held more often at the discretion of the British Prime Minister.

The term may of course also be used to refer to an election to any democratically elected body in which all of the members are up for election. Section 2 of the Scotland Act 1998, for example, specifically refers to ordinary elections to the Scottish Parliament as general elections^[1].

General elections in Britain traditionally take place on a Thursday; the last general election not on a Thursday was that of 1931.

The five year limit on the time of a Parliament can be varied by an Act of Parliament. This was done during both World Wars; the Parliament elected in December 1910 was prolonged to November 1918, and that elected in November 1935 lasted until June 1945. The House of Lords has an absolute veto on any Bill to extend the life of a Parliament.

United Kingdom general elections

This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, so that Parliament is not included in the table below.

Вопрос 33

By-election

A by-election (occasionally also spelled "bye-election", and known in the United States and the Philippines as a special election) is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections. Usually this occurs when the incumbent has died or resigned, but it may also occur when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office, for example because of a recall, ennoblement (colloquially known in the United Kingdom as being "kicked upstairs") or a sufficiently serious criminal conviction. By-elections have also been called as a result of a constituency election being invalidated due to voting irregularities.

Historically, members of some parliaments were required to seek re-election upon being appointed to a ministerial post. The subsequent by-elections were termed ministerial by-elections. These by-elections were usually a formality as they were normally, but not always, uncontested by opposition parties. The requirement for MPs to resign their seats and re-offer upon being appointed to Cabinet was done away with in most Westminster systems by the mid-20th century as an anachronism.