BTEC PUBLIC SERVICES ASSESSMENT 2
Understanding the Democratic Election process in the UK Introduction:
What is UK Election?
A formal and organized choice by vote of a person for a political office or other position in UK is called Election. According to fixed term parliament act on 15th September, 2011 the next election will be held on 7th of May 2015.The act provides for general elections to be held on the first Thursday in May every five years. There are two provisions that trigger an election other than at five year intervals. A motion of no confidence is passed in Her Majesty's Government by a simple majority and 14 days elapses without the House passing a confidence motion in any new Government formed A motion for a general election is agreed by two thirds of the total number of seats in the Commons including vacant seats (currently 434 out of 650) Previous to this act, the duration of a Parliament was set at five years, although many were dissolved before that, at the request of the Prime Minister to the Queen.

●text: http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/ Importance of Election Education:

Instructors, counsellors and others who work with young people play an important role in Educating new and future voters about the electoral process. For this reason it is important that those who work with youth do what they can to educate youth about the democratic process. In the 2005 British Columbia general election, only 35% of eligible voters aged 18-24 voted. Reversing this alarming trend is critical to the future health of our democratic institutions.
●text: http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/voting/
●picture:
https://smediacacheak0.pinimg.com/originals/16/d7/48/16d7482e689401d23dfb0168387f4ca9.jpg

Who can stand for Election?
You can stand for election if you are aged 21 and is a citizen of British Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland Candidates must be nominated by ten parliamentary electors of the constituency they wish to stand in. Authorization is required to stand for a specific party, otherwise candidates will be described as independent or have no description. In order to encourage only serious candidates to stand, a £500 deposit is required when submitting the nomination papers - returned if the candidate receives over five per cent of the total votes cast. You are not allowed to be elected if you are prisoner serving sentence 12 months or longer.
●http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/elections/standing/Local

Local Elections:
You must meet one or more of the following conditions: To stand as a candidate at a local election, you must be 18 years old and must be a British, Commonwealth, Irish or other European Union member state citizen.
Have lived in the area involved in the election (for example, anywhere in the borough for a council election or anywhere in Greater London for a GLA election) for the whole of the 12 months before being nominated, and still live in that are on polling day
Have worked in the area for the whole of the 12 months before being nominated and still work there on polling day Have occupied any land or premises as owner or tenant in the area in the whole of the 12 months before being nominated and still occupy it on polling day
Be registered as a local government elector
There are also some reasons to disqualify certain people from standing as a candidate:
You cannot be a candidate if you: are subject to bankruptcy restrictions, or an interim order have been convicted and sentenced to a prison term of three months or more, including suspended sentences, without the option of a fine, at any time in the five years before polling day have been disqualified as a result of an election offence, or a corrupt or illegal practice, by an election court
Are employed in a 'politically restricted post' by any local authority, unless you can get an exemption from an independent adjudicator appointed by the Secretary of State.

The selection process in the Elections:
The party can draw up a list of centrally approved candidates from which the local branch can choose. CV’s, application form, background check and even tests are held during the selection process. Existing MPs who want to stand for election again are normally automatically approved.
Interviews are held. All basic information is kept in check like gender, ethnicity and beliefs
The influence of the party system on the Elections:
Political parties have a tremendous amount of influence on the election process. Firstly and most importantly, the political party in power is the one who chooses when to have a general Election. This means they can call a general election at any time within the five-year period that suits them and makes it more likely for them to Win. The party in power is likely to have the funds to support their candidates and the resources for Publicity to help them win the seat. This puts smaller parties and independent candidates at a distinct disadvantage.

Reference: Public Services Level 3 Book 1 Btec National Pearson Foundation Ltd. United Kingdom http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/feandvocational/ publicservices/btec/bteclevel3nationalpublicservices/samples/studentbook/btecnationalpublicservices-samplestudentbookmaterial.pdf

Representatives:
Britain is a representative democracy. This is where citizens within a country elect representatives to make decisions for them. Every 5 years in Britain the people have the chance to vote into power those they wish to represent us in Parliament. These MP’s meet in the House of Commons to discuss matters and pass acts which then become British law.
Within the House of Commons, each elected MP represents an area called a constituency. The voters in this constituency passed on the responsibility of participating in law making to this MP who, if successful within the Commons, could be re-elected by that constituency at the next general election. However, in stark comparison to direct democracy, the people hand over the responsibility of decision making to someone else who wishes to be in that position. For five years, MP’s are responsible to their electorate. In this way they are held accountable to them. If they fail to perform (or if the party has done badly during its time in office) they can be removed by the people of their constituency. In this way, the people exercise control over their representatives. However, by handing to their MP’s the right to participate in decision making within the Commons, the electorate is removing itself from the process of decision making. Though MP’s have constituency clinics where the people can voice an opinion on an issue, the electorate play no part in the mechanism of decision making - that process has been handed to MP’s and the government. Within representative democracy, usually two types of MP’s emerge. There are those who believe that they should act and react to what the party and electorate wish - they believe that they have been elected to represent both; though an argument would be that the party wants the best for the electorate so the two are entirely compatible.

Representatives: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/representative_democracy.htm Period of Election:
Periods of election in the UK can range from 1-5 years depending on the post the candidate is elected to. Mayors typically serve for one year, councillors for up to four and MPs for up to five before they must stand down or be re-elected.

http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/feandvocational/ publicservices/btec/bteclevel3nationalpublicservices/samples/studentbook/btecnationalpublicservices-samplestudentbookmaterial.pdf Publicity and Electioneering:
It is important that people get know that who is standing for elections, they could know more about their leader to whom they have to vote and for this they have to publicly campaign or making posters, leafleting houses or canvassing door to door for votes. Publicity costs money and so the more wealthy parties will have an advantage. In addition, during a general election you will often see party political broadcasts for the main parties outlining their policies. This is because they can afford publicity campaigns that include film-making.

The Voting Process:
Voting process is very familiar to every person as it is tradition way of going to a polling office (church, school or any community office) to go in the voting booth and crossing the ballot slip next to the candidate you want to win the election, we can also vote electronically through internet. There is also a facility where you can name someone to cast your vote for you. This is called voting by proxy. http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/feandvocational/publicservices/btec/bteclevel3nationalpublicservices/samples/studentbook/btecnationalpublicservices-samplestudentbookmaterial.pdf The Voting System:
There are many methods used in both the UK and worldwide to decide who gets to be part of the government and these include:
First past the Post (FPTP):
This is the main system employed in the UK in which the candidate with the highest votes wins. This is still the case even if they don’t get over 50% of votes.
The Single Transferable Vote:
This is where a party can place as many candidates as there are seats available. If the first candidate doesn’t win the preference can go to next one.
The Alternative Vote:
This is one when the voter places the candidates with prefers i.e.; 1st,
2nd, 3rd or 4rth etc. if they get over 50% they win there is no one who gets over 50% the lowest polling candidate is eliminated and the second preference is re distributed until a clear winner is found

Proportional representation:
Proportional representation is an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party. For example, if a party gained 40% of the total votes, a perfectly proportional system would allow them to gain 40% of the seats. The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a proportional voting system and enables the elector to list candidates in order of preference in a multi-member constituency.
A candidate is elected once his votes reach the relevant quota and any excess votes over this quota are then transferred, according to the second preferences of the voters. This would not usually be the case in the First Past the Post system, used for Westminster elections. Different electoral systems achieve varying degrees of proportionality.

http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/why-we-need-pr_v2-001_blog.png

Election Day Activities:
Campaigning:
With posters, debates and other campaigns, the candidates try to attract voters. Candidates may not spend as much as they want on campaigning, however – there is a strict limit. Every party may only spend 40 Pence per voter in a constituency. For each candidate a further 7,150 Pound per constituency and 5–7 Pence per voter may be spent. This keeps the number of annoying mailshots and phone calls down.

Purpose of this Report:
Through this report we are able to know different election process, how the members are elected ,how selection is being done ,what are the factors which influence the party system on election ,how long is period of the election, how we can campaign and publicize our party, what are the election day activities, voting process and different voting systems. The purpose is to have a clear perspective about the election process in UK so that the future generation are able to vote the right person for their country through which our country would progress and be developed state.

Conclusions:
People elect a member of party as this is the first level of the development in the country .people vote the members standing for elections so that they can develop through them.

Election process for The Member of the European Parliament:
The European Parliament is made up of 751 members and elected in the 28 members states of the enlarged European Union Since 1979 MEPs have been elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year period.

The Voting system is held after every 5 years depending on the universal adult suffrage. There is no uniform voting for the member of the parliament every member is free to choose their own system except the following restrictions the system must be the form of Proportional Representation under either the party list or Single Transferable Vote system. The election threshold on the national level must not exceed five percent the electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the proportional nature of the voting system. The European Parliament has a high turnover of members compared to some national parliaments. For instance, after the 2004 elections, the majority of elected members had not been members in the prior parliamentary session, though that could largely be put down to the recent enlargement. Only one has served continuously since the first elections in 1979.
Every five years EU citizens choose who represents them in the European Parliament, the directly-elected institution that defends their interests in the EU decision-making process. Each member state has the right to elect a fixed number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The allocation of seats is laid down in the European treaties on the basis of the principle of digressive proportionality: countries with a larger population have more seats than smaller countries, but the latter have more seats than strict proportionality would imply. Voting practices vary across the EU, although there are some common elements, the most important of which is that some form of proportional representation should be used. This gives larger and smaller political parties the chance to send their representatives to the European Parliament in line with the number of votes they receive. However, each country is free to decide on many important aspects of the voting procedure. Elections are contested by national political parties but once MEPs are elected, most opt to become part of transnational political groups. Most national parties are affiliated to a European-wide political family so one of the big questions on election night is which of these European groupings will exert greater influence on the decisions taken in the next legislative term. The European Council must take the election results into account when choosing a nominee for the post of President of the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has become a powerful co-legislator and plays a determining role in shaping European policies. A vote in the European elections is every citizen's chance to influence the shape of the Parliament and the decisions it takes over its five year mandate.

European Parliament elections are second-order elections. That is to say, while European Parliament election candidates base their propaganda on national political and economic problems, European voters make their choices according to the national issues not to the supranational issues. When viewed from this aspect, European Parliament elections are actually sort of interim elections which send messages to the member states’ governments support them or criticise them. A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the Parliament of the European Union whereas a member of parliament (MP) is the representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this category includes specifically members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as SENATE, and thus also have different titles for its members, such as SENATOR.

Conclusion:
MEPs represent on EU-wide issues. They can debate most proposed new European laws, control how money is spent by the EU, scrutinise all EU institutions, hear public petitions raised on EU matters. MEPs can assist you with matters that affect EU member states such as:
Employment and working conditions, consumer protection, economic development, equal opportunities, environmental standards, fishing and agriculture. Scotland is represented by six MEPs in the European Parliament, which meets in Brussels and Strasbourg. Wherever you live in Scotland, you can approach any one of the six. You can find out who your MEPs are and how to contact them by visiting the European Parliament website or by contacting the European Parliament Office in Scotland. Whereas MP’s represents your area on matters that are dealt with by the UK Parliament, known as reserved matters. They can take part in committee meetings and speak in debates in the House of Commons, debate proposed UK laws, question the UK Government scrutinise and vote on the UK Government’s budget proposals. Your MP can assist you if you have concerns about a reserved matter such as: benefits and social security, immigration, defence, foreign policy, employment, trade and industry.