article_snippet.sent: But in a UK parliamentary the vote is more indirectly aimed at appointing a new government.
article_snippet.sent: Votes are tallied by constituencies -- political fiefdoms, really -- some of which date back centuries to when Britain was run by barons, or maybe even elves -- each with a seat in parliament.
article_snippet.sent: Of course, in reality, people may be swayed by party figureheads and see voting as a direct endorsement of people leadership, personality or -- true things -- people ability to eat bacon sandwiches and point at fish.
article_snippet.sent: But also kinda not, since it means a party can easily win power without winning the most votes.
article_snippet.sent: That's because Britain's elections are run on a "first-past-the-post" basis.
article_snippet.sent: The elected parliament consists of 650 seats, each representing a different number of constituents -- anywhere between 21,000 and 110,000.
article_snippet.sent: Only the candidate who wins most votes in each constituency gets a seat.
article_snippet.sent: The centrist Liberal Democrats, for instance, had 6.8 million votes (23% of the total) at the last election, but won just 57 seats.
article_snippet.sent: The Conservatives claimed 307 with just 10.7 million votes.