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Things to know about Britain election

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Voting is set to take place in Britain on May 7. According to BBC poll survey, Conservative Party is likely to get 34 percent while Labour Party may get 33 percent vote, UK Independence Party (UKIP) 14 percent, Liberal Democrats 8%, Green Party 5% while other may get 6 pc.

Here are some facts and figures need to know about UK General Election 2015.

  • British elections run on a constituency-based system - a constituency is a geographical area containing approximately 60,000 people.
  • The smallest constituency in Britain is Islington North in London.
  • Orkney and Shetland is the most northerly parliamentary constituency in Britain. It is closer to Oslo than it is to Westminster.
  • The last party leader to get more than 50 per cent of the vote was Conservative Stanley Baldwin, who won 470 seats in 1931.
  • Out of total 650 members of Parliament only 427 seats on the benches of the House of Commons.
  • There were only 148 women MPs in the last parliament. In fact since 1918 there has been a total of 370 female MPs. While 502 male MPs were elected in 2010 alone.
Britain election explained
  • There are 1036 women candidates contesting in 2015 election. That's 26 per cent of candidates - the highest ever percentage of female candidates at a UK general election.
  • A record breaking 469,000 people registered online to vote on Monday 20th April - the registration deadline.
  • It's up to Brits if they vote - it's not compulsory like in Australia.
  • You are barred from voting in general elections if you are a member of the House of Lords; an EU citizen living in the UK; anyone other than British, Irish and qualifying Commonwealth citizens; a convicted prisoner; anybody found guilty of electoral fraud within the last five years; or if you are subject to any "legal incapacity" which impairs your judgement for example certified insane.
  • Want to stand as UK MP? You need at least ten friends (Facebook ones don't count) who live in the constituency you are standing in to sign your nomination form.
  • A citizen of the Commonwealth? You can vote and stand as an MP in a UK General Election.
  • The Queen doesn't vote - she could in practice but it is considered unconstitutional for the monarch to vote in an election.
  • The last UK general election, in 2010, cost £84.6m to administer with around 42 million people eligible to vote. 
  • The House of Commons, the democratically elected house of the UK Parliament, has 100 staircases, 5km of passageways and thousands of rooms.
  • As it carries out its business, the House of Commons produces 18 million printed pages a year, including committee reports, draft bills and Hansard - the record of what was said in Parliament.
  • Green is the colour of the House of Commons - from the iconic benches in the Chamber to the ribbon used to tie the hard copy of bills as they are physically carried to the House of Lords.
  • There are around 300 panes of glass covering the clock face in the famous Big Ben tower.
OneIndia News (With inputs from BBC)
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