General Election - Wikipedia

Election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "General election" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article. If this information is appropriate for the lead, it should also be included in the article's body. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the US and UK and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of the Politics series
Elections
Basic types By-election Corporate Direct / Indirect Fixed-term Free and fair General Local Mid-term Plurality Primary Partisan Nonpartisan Proportional Recall Retention Snap Sortition Two-round system Unfair
Terminology Anonymous elector Apportionment Audits Competition Electoral boundary delimitation Crossover voting Electoral college Election law Election silence Gerrymandering Initiative Psephology Secret ballot Suffrage Right to stand for election
Subseries Administration Political party Voting Electoral systems
Lists Elections by country Close elections Most recent Next general elections National and local elections in 2025
Related Election security Electoral fraud Referendum (by country) Electoral reform Election science Paper candidate
Politics portal
v t e

A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time.[1] They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections typically occur at regular intervals as mandated by a country's constitution or electoral laws, and may include elections for a legislature and sometimes other positions such as a directly elected president.[1] In many jurisdictions, general elections can coincide with other electoral events such as local, regional, or supranational elections.[2] For example, on 25 May 2014, Belgian voters simultaneously elected their national parliament, 21 members of the European Parliament, and regional parliaments.

In the United States, "general election" has a slightly different, but related meaning: the ordinary electoral competition following the selection of candidates in the primary election.

United Kingdom

[edit] Main articles: Elections in the United Kingdom and United Kingdom general elections overview

The term general election in the United Kingdom often refers to the elections held on the same day in all constituencies of their members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons.[3]

Historically, English and later British general elections took place over a period of several weeks, with individual constituencies holding polling on different days. However, from the 1918 election onwards, the elections in all constituencies have been held on the same day. There has been a convention since the 1930s that general elections in Britain should take place on a Thursday; the last general election to take place on any other weekday was that of 1931.[4]

Under the terms of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, in force until March 2022, the period between one general election and the next was fixed at five years, unless the House of Commons passed one of the following:

• A motion of no confidence in the Government sooner than that, and did not pass a motion of confidence in a new Government within fourteen days[2]
• A motion, approved by two-thirds of its members, resolving that a general election should take place sooner[2]
• A proposal from the prime minister to reschedule an election mandated by the Act to no later than two months after the original date[2]

Although not provided for in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, an early election could also be brought about by an act of parliament specifically calling for a general election, which (unlike the second option above) only required a simple majority.[citation needed] This was the mechanism used to precipitate the December 2019 election, when the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 was enacted.[5]

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.[6]

The term general election is also used in the United Kingdom to refer to elections to any democratically elected body in which all members are up for election.[citation needed] Section 2 of the Scotland Act 1998, for example, specifically refers to ordinary elections to the Scottish Parliament as general elections.[7][need quotation to verify]

United States

[edit] Main article: Elections in the United States

In U.S. politics, general elections are elections held at any level (e.g. city, county, congressional district, state) that typically involve competition between at least two parties. General elections occur every two to six years (depending on the positions being filled, with most positions good for four years) and include the presidential election.[citation needed] "General election" does not refer to special elections, which fill out positions prematurely vacated by the previous office holder.[8]

Major general elections are as follows:[9][10]

1. The President and Vice President are elected once every four years (2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, etc.)
2. Representatives in the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, and so there are elections for representatives every two years (midterm elections, and during the same year as the Presidency: 2020, 2022, 2024, 2026, etc.)[failed verification]
3. Senators serve six-year terms, but their terms are staggered. Throughout the US, a third of the senate will be up for election every midterm and during the Presidential election year.[failed verification]

The term general election is distinguished from primaries or caucuses, which are intra-party elections meant to select a party's official candidate for a particular race. Thus, if a primary is meant to elect a party's candidate for the position-in-question, a general election is meant to elect who occupies the position itself.[citation needed] Presidential primaries happen several months before the general election, though not all states hold primaries.[11]

In the Louisiana the expression general election means the runoff election which occurs between the two highest candidates as determined by the jungle primary.[12][failed verification]

See also

[edit]

• Writ of election

References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "What Is a General Election?". BBC Newsround. April 7, 2015. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
2. ^ a b c d "Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 as enacted". legislation.gov.uk.
3. ^ "General elections". www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
4. ^ "General elections - UK Parliament". Retrieved 6 November 2024.
5. ^ Pichetal, Rob (29 October 2019). "Britain set for December 12 election after MPs approve snap poll". Cable News Network. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
6. ^ Merrick, Rob (11 May 2021). "Boris Johnson Grabs Back Power to Call Snap General Election By Scrapping Fixed Five-Year Terms". The Independent. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
7. ^ "Scotland Act 1998".
8. ^ "general election". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
9. ^ "Congressional elections and midterm elections | USAGov". www.usa.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
10. ^ "Presidential general election | USAGov". www.usa.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
11. ^ "Presidential primaries and caucuses | USAGov". www.usa.gov. Retrieved 2023-12-31.
12. ^ Chapter 5 of the Louisiana Election Code, incorporating Section 18:401 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes.

External links

[edit]

• Wikidata: Q1076105 (Scholia)