Compared to elections to other countries, a British election is a rapid and straightforward affair. Traditionally about 75 percent of the country’s 44 million registered voters take part. They each place a cross next to the name of the candidate they want to vote for on a ballot paper. In a general election, voters choose the man or woman they wish to represent them in the House of Commons.
　　Unlike other countries, Britain uses the “first-past-the-post” method for choosing its government. Under this system, the candidate who wins the highest number of votes in each constituency becomes the Member of Parliament (MP) for the seat, even if he or she has less than half of the total vote. Currently, there are 651 geographical constituencies in Britain.
　　Most candidates are members of Britain’s 3 main political parties. They are the conservatives, Labour, and the smaller Liberal Democrats.
　　Any citizen of Britain can try and get elected as an MP. Only bankrupts, prisoners, members of the clergy, peers and certain senior public officials are not allowed to stand. But in order to limit the number of people who do take apart, each candidates is required to deposit£ before the election. They “lose their deposit” if they fail to win 5 percent of the poll.
　　The “first-past-the-post” principle is also used to decide which party will from the new government. As a rule, the party which wins the most seats is invited by the Queen to form the government. The leader of that party then becomes the new prime minister.
　　The exact date of the election is chosen by the prime minister and is normally announced about a month in advance. This makes the election campaign quite short in comparison to countries like the U.S.A., where the campaign to elect the president lasts for up to nine months.
　　It’s estimated that up to a fifth of voters in Britain only decide who they will vote for in the last 4 weeks before an election. As a result, parties spend huge sums of money on advertising in the last few weeks. Individual candidates are limited by law on how much they may spend but no such restriction applies to the parties.
　　参考译文:
　　比起其他国家的选举，英国大选是一件快速且简单的事情。一般来说，全国登记的4400万选民中会有75%的人参加投票。他们只要在选票上自己支持的候选人名字旁边画上一个叉叉就可以了。在普选中，选民根据自己的意愿来选出下议院的代表。
　　与别的国家不同，英国采用“得票最多就获胜”的选举制度来组成政府，即：在一个选区获得票数最多的候选人就能获得议会的席位，即使他/她获得的选票不足总票数的一半。现在，英国有651个从地理上划分的选区。
　　大部分的候选人都属于英国的三个主要政党，即保守党、工党和最小的自由民主党。
　　英国所有的公民都有机会竞选议员，除了破产的人、囚犯、神职人员、贵族和某些高级官员。为了限制参加竞选的人数，每一个侯选人在大选之前都要交500英镑。如果他们获得的选票不足5%，政府就不退还那500英镑。
　　“得票最多就是获胜”的原则也用于决定哪个政党组成新的政府。根据惯例，获得席位最多的政党受女王的邀请来组阁。该政党的领袖成为新的首相。
　　选举的确切日期是由首相选定的，通常会提前一个月公布。这使得英国的竞选时间同美国这样的国家相比要短得多，美国的总统竞选时间最长可持续9个月。
　　有估计说五分之一的英国选民是在选举前四个礼拜才决定选谁。这就导致了各政党在最后几周花大把大把的钱做广告。英国有法律规定候选人在竞选过程中只能花多少钱，但是对政党没有规定。