What's Being Voted For Today
Apologies to those who've been confused by the politics posts recently, in my haste, I neglected to cover the basics.
So, here's what's happening today:
1. UK parliamentary election. Each eligible voter gets one vote in their constituency (Dutch: kiesdistrict). Whichever constituency candidate has the most votes, becomes the Member of Parliament there. Every MP in the House of Commons has to have won their constituency, including the party leaders. Reminder: the voting system means that the total number of votes across the UK doesn't matter, it's winning seats that counts.
This time there are 650 constituencies. London has over 70 of them. Mine is Bethnal Green & Bow, which was a Labour stronghold until George Galloway (Respect) turned up.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also have their own elections (not today!) for their parliaments which have differing levels of responsibility. For example, the Scottish parliament decides over health, but the Welsh parliament doesn't because that still rests with the UK parliament in Westminster. Edit: I was wrong, artela says, "health is a devolved issue in Wales".
Northern Ireland, well, they could use up everyone's health budgets for the headaches caused.
2. Local elections for some places in England. This includes all 32 London boroughs (Dutch: deelgemeentes/stadsdelen). Mine is Tower Hamlets, which is currently held by Labour. To give you an idea, it has a population of about 220,000 and a budget of about £1 billion.
The boroughs are divided up into electoral districts called "wards". Tower Hamlets has 17. My ward is Bethnal Green North and has three votes for three councillors. Again, most votes wins. Unusually, it has two Lib Dem councillors (out of a total of four Lib Dems who make up part of the 51 member council.)
By the way, two of London's 70+ parlimentary constituencies housed within this borough, one is Bethnal Green & Bow, the other is Poplar & Limehouse. Parliamentary constituencies don't always fit neatly into boroughs, but these two do this time.
3. Yes, there's a 3. Tower Hamlets is holding a referendum on whether we should have a directly elected mayor. Most mayors just chair the meetings, a directly elected mayor would have more power. London has an elected mayor but that's not directly comparable because that's for the Greater London Authority and not a more local borough.
Hope that answers the questions!
So, here's what's happening today:
1. UK parliamentary election. Each eligible voter gets one vote in their constituency (Dutch: kiesdistrict). Whichever constituency candidate has the most votes, becomes the Member of Parliament there. Every MP in the House of Commons has to have won their constituency, including the party leaders. Reminder: the voting system means that the total number of votes across the UK doesn't matter, it's winning seats that counts.
This time there are 650 constituencies. London has over 70 of them. Mine is Bethnal Green & Bow, which was a Labour stronghold until George Galloway (Respect) turned up.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also have their own elections (not today!) for their parliaments which have differing levels of responsibility. For example, the Scottish parliament decides over health, but the Welsh parliament doesn't because that still rests with the UK parliament in Westminster. Edit: I was wrong, artela says, "health is a devolved issue in Wales".
Northern Ireland, well, they could use up everyone's health budgets for the headaches caused.
2. Local elections for some places in England. This includes all 32 London boroughs (Dutch: deelgemeentes/stadsdelen). Mine is Tower Hamlets, which is currently held by Labour. To give you an idea, it has a population of about 220,000 and a budget of about £1 billion.
The boroughs are divided up into electoral districts called "wards". Tower Hamlets has 17. My ward is Bethnal Green North and has three votes for three councillors. Again, most votes wins. Unusually, it has two Lib Dem councillors (out of a total of four Lib Dems who make up part of the 51 member council.)
By the way, two of London's 70+ parlimentary constituencies housed within this borough, one is Bethnal Green & Bow, the other is Poplar & Limehouse. Parliamentary constituencies don't always fit neatly into boroughs, but these two do this time.
3. Yes, there's a 3. Tower Hamlets is holding a referendum on whether we should have a directly elected mayor. Most mayors just chair the meetings, a directly elected mayor would have more power. London has an elected mayor but that's not directly comparable because that's for the Greater London Authority and not a more local borough.
Hope that answers the questions!