UK Chapter Four - Politics, Class, and Race.ppt

Culture and Background Chapter 4: Politics, Class and Race
Politics: General Elections
Occurs every 5 years
An opportunity to influence future government policy
Or get rid of bad governments
Politics: General Elections
Who can vote? Everyone EXCEPT:
Convicted Criminals
The Legally Insane
Resident foreign citizens
The Electoral Register is the list of people who can legally vote.
Politics: General Elections
Who can stand?
Anyone who is eligible to vote
They must make a deposit of 500 pound (about 7,100 RMB)
If they get at least 5% of the vote, they get the money back
General Elections
How does an election work?
Everyone on the electoral register receives a voting card in the mail.
Put an “X” by the name of the person they vote for
The voting cards are put into a sealed box until the voting has ended, then the votes are counted
It is a private ballot.
Politics: The Campaign
Political parties try to get as many people to vote for them
They use all sorts of methods from newspaper ads to going door-to-door.
They say what they want to do in the future and also how bad the other political parties are
Politics: Political Parties
Three Main Parties:
The Labour Party
The Conservative Party
The Liberal Democrats
The Labour Party:
One of the two biggest parties
Is a socialist party. Believes society should be relatively economically equal.
Government should redistribute wealth and provide public services. ( . High taxes.)
Gets funding from labor unions
Politics: Political Parties
Politics: Political Parties
The Conservatives:
The other biggest party
Believes in individuals’ right to acquire wealth
Low taxes
Gets funding from panies
Politics: Political Parties
The Liberal Democrats:
The third largest party
In the middle between conservative and liberal