Innledning
I am going to talk about the british electoral system, the so-called “first-past-the-post” system. My approach, or… my focus question for this presentation, is: “What are the advantages and disadvantages of the British first-past-the-post-system?”

In order to point out the advantages and disadvantages of the system, I must first explain briefly how the British system works.

I don’t have time to explain their entire system, therefore I am just going to explain how the elections work. Okay, general elections in Britain are held on the first Thursday in May every 5 years, being the 7th of May next year.

In these elections, MPs - members of Parliament, will be elected for the House of Commons.

The House of Commons is comparable to the Norwegian “storting” - it consists of members of different british parties, the number of each depending on the result of the election.

So on the election day, the electorate will vote for a candidate running for MP (Member of Parliament).

Utdrag
It also has a possibly even worse consequence; it also puts many brits off voting. It is believed that if people did not feel like their vote would be wasted anyway, more people would go and cast a vote.

Britain has a rather low voter turnout, in the last election the voter turnout in Britain was only 65,1%, compared to the Norwegian voter turnout being 78,23%.

Nevertheless, there are also many advantages of the British system. Possibly the most important advantage, is the fact that the UK hardly ever has a coalition government, (the current coalition with the liberal democrats and conservatives being a rare exception).

This forms strong governments, and causes them to be able to actually go through with their promises, as the winning party will also have a majority in the house of commons. They are in other words able to operate without constant compromises.

Other advantages the British tend to point to when you ask what they like about their own system, is the fact they use a traditional system; people value traditions, and this system has been used in the UK for centuries.

More importantly to many is the fact that they get more of a personal “relationship” with the candidate; as each MP will “represent” the will of the people from one constituency.