Evening star., 1950-01-22

that is, 391.
The Conservative Party, on the
other hand, has slightly increased
its strength-by winning three
seats at by-elections and well
coming two ex-Socialists into it's
ranks-and it's membership in the
House of Commons is now 1874.
The Liberal Party which was re-
turned in 1945 with IL members,
has lost one of them to Labor and
one to the Conservatives. The
Communist Party still has only
the two members who were re-
turned in 1945.
The fact that the Labor Party
has not lost single seat at by
election might suggest that its
position in the country is as
strong as in 1945. But one must
remember that, although at the
last general election it won a ma
jority of 204 seats over the Con-
servatives, it's majority of votes
was far less convincing.
Electoral System
just over II 100000 people voted
for the Labor Party, just over
8,600,000 for the Conservatives,
and if one adds together all the
Socialist votes G.e., all those
given to candidates processing
sympathy with socialism, and all
the anti-Socialist votes d.e., those
for the Conservatives, Liberals,
Liberal Nationals and so on one
finds that there was a pro-Social-
ist majority of only $3.50.
The explanation is to be found
in the working of Britain's elec-
toral system. MPs are elected
by single ballot, and the candidate
with the largest number of votes
Is returned to Parliament, even
though he may not have an abso-
lutte majority over all the other
candidates.
The effect of this system is to
give the advantage to the larger
parties. Thus, although the Lib
eral Party at the last election
polled 2,239,66S votes, only II of
its candidates were returned. The
Labor Party, on the other hand,
with only f1ve-and-a-haf times as
many votes as the Liberals man.
aged to get SO times as many MPs
elected to the House of Commons.
1t Is not surprising, therefore,
that the Liberals have been CAM
paigning for some time for pro-
portional representation which
would insure a better relation be-
tween votes and seats, but both the
Labor and the Conservative Par
ties have rejected the idea, though
In the old days Labor used to
support 1t.
At the coming election, 34,410,-
S06 people will have the right to
vote-one- -and-a-half million more
than In 1945. The changes in the
electoral law since the last eIec-
ton have had two important ef-
fects. First, there is no longer
plural voting; the business prem
ises vote and the university vote
have been abolished by the Labor
government, so that no one today
has more than one vote. And Sec
ond, the redistribution of con-
stituencieS has given to each con-
stituency the right to return only
one member of Parliament (pre-
viously some returned two), and
all the constituencies today have
celebrates of roughly the same
size. This redistribution and the
abolition Of the university seats
means that the new House of Com
mons will have only 625 members
compared with the $40 in the pres
ent House.
1t Is expected that both the
Labor and Conservative Parties
will put a candidate in each con-
stituency. The Liberal Party will
have at least 400 candidates.
larger number than at any other
election for the last 20 years, and
the Communist Party has an
nounced that it hopes to put 100
candidates in the field-compared
with Il at the last election. (These
100 candidates are being put up
largely for prestige reasons. For
example. all the most important
labor ministers are being opposed
by Communists).
Voting Not Compulsory
These candidates must be over
Il years of age; they must not be
peers, lunatics or bankrupts. They
are chosen by their local constit-
uency organizations, but the CEN
tral offices of the Labor, Conser-
yative and Communist Parties
reserve the right to disown a can
didate if they think he is not
s':21able. To deter freak" candi-
dates, each candidate must deposit
fls9; this is usually done for him
by his constituency organization
Tie deposit is forfeited if the
candidate fails to get more than
one-elghth of the votes cast.
Although in a few constituent
cies local issues or personalities
may affect the voting, the British
elector generally makes his deci-
sion on national issues. The broad
casts of the party leaders are,
therefore. considered important.
The publicly-owned BIC main
.tains an impartial attitude.
After discussions between the four
parties, 1t has been decided that
the Conservative and Labor Par
ties should have five broadcasts
each, the Liberals should have
two and the Communists one.
No "set" speeches are to be tele-
vised.
The press is predominantly anti
government. OF the national
dailies, only two-the Daily
Herald controlled by the Trades
~.