Politics Essay: Democracy

Explain two functions of elections

An election is a method of filling an office or post through choices made by a designated body of people known as the electorate. Elections take place every four or five years. There are four types of elections: the general election, devolved assembly elections, the European parliament elections and local elections. Two of the main functions of elections are to form government and ensure representation.

In the general elections, elections have the function of forming governments. Elections are the main way in which power is transferred from one government to the next. The governments in the UK are formed from the leading members of the majority party in the House of Commons. The results of general elections are usually very clear so the transfer of power normally happens the day after the election. The leader of the majority party becomes the Prime Minister and they must appoint the other ministers for their government. However, it is argued that elections in the UK aren’t always successful in forming governments because where proportional electoral systems are used, there is less likely to be a single winning party. This means that governments may be formed through deals negotiated by two or more parties. These deals can take many days or weeks to negotiate. An example of this can be seen in the Scottish Parliament as a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition was formed after the 1999 and 2003 elections.

The second main function is ensuring representation. Elections act as a way for communication between government and the people, which means they carry out a representative function. Elections create a link between the elected politicians and their constituents which ensures that the constituency’s concerns are properly articulated and addressed. Elections also create a more general link between the government of that time and public opinion. This happens because elections make politicians and the government of the day are therefore publicly accountable. This gives people final control over the government as they are also ultimately removable. However, because elections are four or five years apart, the link between voters and representatives is weakened, this also includes the fact that there aren’t any recall elections in the UK. Secondly, it is argued how elected politicians should represent their electors and how they actually do it.