In a parliamentary political system, a
general election is an
electionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
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-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections...
s and
local electionLocal elections vary widely across jurisdictions. In electoral systems that roughly follow the Westminster model, a terminology has evolved with roles such as Mayor or to describe the executive of a city or town or region, and Reeve, Alderman or Councillor to describe the legislators who...
s.
The term originates in the
United Kingdom general electionsThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections 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...
for the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
.
The
General electionsThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections 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...
in
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
refer to the election of
Members of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
(MPs) to the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
; these must be held 5 years after the first session of the new parliament, (usually within 5 years and 1 month of the last one to due to the time it takes for parliament to assemble and the election campaign), but are often held before that time as it is up to the parties in government when to call a general election.
In a parliamentary political system, a
general election is an
electionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
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-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections...
s and
local electionLocal elections vary widely across jurisdictions. In electoral systems that roughly follow the Westminster model, a terminology has evolved with roles such as Mayor or to describe the executive of a city or town or region, and Reeve, Alderman or Councillor to describe the legislators who...
s.
The term originates in the
United Kingdom general electionsThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections 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...
for the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
.
In the United Kingdom
The
General electionsThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections 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...
in
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
refer to the election of
Members of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
(MPs) to the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
; these must be held 5 years after the first session of the new parliament, (usually within 5 years and 1 month of the last one to due to the time it takes for parliament to assemble and the election campaign), but are often held before that time as it is up to the parties in government when to call a general election. The current
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
government have held general elections every four years since coming to power in May 1997 and thereafter in June 2001 and
May 2005May 2005 was the fifth month of that year. It began on a Sunday and ended after 31 days, on a Tuesday.May 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - →-Events:...
. Therefore another election is not legally obliged to occur until June 2010.
General elections in Britain traditionally take place on a Thursday; the last general election not on a Thursday was that of
1931The UK general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was held in the middle...
.
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 1935The UK general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
lasted until June 1945. The
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
has an absolute veto on any Bill to extend the life of a Parliament.
In India
General Elections in IndiaSince independence, elections in India have evolved a long way, but all along elections have been a significant cultural aspect of independent India....
is the largest exercise of democracy in the World. In 2004, Indian elections covered an electorate larger than 670 million people—over twice that of the next largest, the European Parliament elections—and declared expenditure has trebled since 1989 to almost $300 million, using more than 1 million electronic voting machines. The
Election Commission of IndiaThe Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body of India. Its mission is to conduct free and fair elections in India...
coordinates the elections, which owing to the huge size of the electorate is conducted in a phased manner.
American usage
In U.S. politics, some parallels can be drawn between the general election in parliamentary systems and the biennial elections determining all House seats, although there is no analogue to "calling early elections" in the U.S., and the members of the elected U.S. Senate -- less subject to either
party disciplineParty discipline is the ability of a parliamentary group of a political party to get its members to support the policies of their party leadership. In liberal democracies, it usually refers to the control that party leaders have over its legislature...
or independent action by the lower house than the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
-- face elections of only one-third at a time at two year intervals.
As a matter of terminology, "general election" is also more widely used in U.S. politics to denote an election whose winner takes office, as distinguished from a
primary electionA primary election , also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election...
for the same office, administered by government employees to determine the party's candidate for a specific office. In many situations where a member of a
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
seeking candidacy does not consent to the result of the party's private decision-making process rejecting that candidacy, such a primary election determines who represents the party in the "general election" against candidates of other parties.
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