QUESTIONS VIDEO ELECTIONS

1. What are constituencies and how many of them are there in the UK?

Constituency – is a basic electoral unit into which eligible electors are organized to elect representatives to a legislative or other public body. The registration of electors is also usually undertaken within the bounds of the constituency.

Constituencies vary in size and in the number of representatives elected by them.

READING WEST – one of the 650 constituencies that make up the political map of the UK.

Thousands of people in each constituency have registered to vote and in a few weeks’ time they’ll get a chance to do just because it’s a General Election on May the 6^th. The voters will be choosing the person they want to represent them in Parliament – their MP.

2. How many Members of Parliament represent each constituency?

Each constituency is represented by one member of parliament.

3. How important is the MP's political affiliation for the composition of the next government?

Most MPs belong to a political party, each with a different view on how to run the country. In a GE it’s usually the party with the most MPs that gets to form the next government. So, by voting you’re not only choose your MP, you also have your say which party you want in power for the next few years.

4. Does one vote make a difference?

Well, sadly, it’s not even the case that people vote once. Most people don’t vote, so, yes, that’s a huge issue. And if everyone did vote, particularly young people, their voice would be listened to. It’s important to have your say and if you don’t have your say you can’t complain about the outcome. It's statistically proved that higher percentage of older people vote, lower percentage of younger people vote, so they'll go for the older votes with their policies. If more younger people vote they'll go for the younger vote.

5. What are the requirements to be able to vote in the UK?

With just a few exceptions all you need to be able to vote is: number one, you need to have celebrated your 18th birthday. Number two, you need to have registered to vote, which you can do any time after you're sixteen.

6. What is the voting procedure in the UK?

It might look like an ordinary public library, but for today it's been transformed into a palace of democracy. Almost anywhere can be a polling station. Once you have registered you will know when an election is coming up because there will be nothing on the tele except election specials. You'll also be able to tell because a few weeks before the election a polling card will come through your letter box. The polling card tells you where your local polling station is. This is where you go to on election day. Or, if you think you're going to be on holiday when the election comes you can send in your vote by post. To vote at your polling station all you have to do is turn up. You go inside, you give your name and address to a member of staff, or if you're not the chatty type just hand them your poll card. They check your details against the voting register and then give you your ballot paper.

The ballot paper is important, because it has the names of all the candidates in your constituency and the party they belong to. The polling stations have been open from seven o'clock this morning and won't close until ten o'clock at night to give everyone a chance to cast their vote.

7. What happens after people cast their ballots?

It's now midnight - all the polling stations closed two hours ago and every ballot box from every polling station in the constituency has been brought here to the gym. The furthest I'm allowed to go is just behind this metal fence because I'm not one of the official counting people, but the official counting people over there are doing what this all came down to, all the weeks of campaigning and issues comes down basically to people doing this 'one vote, two votes, three votes, four votes, five votes' all night long.

The atmosphere is really starting to get a little bit excited and tense around here now. I think that means there's going to be a result coming any minute now.

The new MP for Reading West is the Conservative Party candidate Mr Alok Sharma. Just like Mr Sharma winning here, the same thing is happening all over the country. Votes are being counted, results are being declared...