Some may say that a two party system exists. This is where in the general elections the voters have little choice on who to vote for other than the two biggest parties, Labour and Conservative. Both of the parties policies may not suit the voter, therefore they may not vote, or vote for a minor party in protest.
There is also consensus politics, where there is little to choose from between the policies of the major parties. It has only been recently where the parties have had similar policies. Labour was stereotypically the party that focused on the lower/working class, making policies that would attract votes from them, as they were the majority of the populations whereas the Conservative party would focus on the middle/upper class with their policies, the minority. However, times have changed and today there are more middle class people in the population compared to other classes, and the parties have changed there polices, perhaps, to suit them more in order to get more votes in an election.
In parliament there is an under representation of minority groups. Some would argue that this is unfair that there is not an equal mix of different races or different sexualities for an example, raising the question, is it democratic? Minorities are welcomed in parliament today, they will, or at least shouldn’t be scrutinised, it is just unlikely that you would get an exact mix of different people, just as you would in a workplace or if you just randomly selected a handful of people off the street.
In Britain we have a secret ballot, introduced in 1872, this is democratic because the voters can think for themselves and express their own opinions on who they want to lead the country, unlike some other countries we can vote without intimidation and bribery.
Some people may argue that the British general election voting system, First Past The Post, is not democratic. The party with the most votes, despite how ever many have been cast against them wins the most seats, not being supported by the majority of those who voted, this is not representative. Since 1935 a party has not won an overall majority of the votes cast.
In conclusion there are lots of points against the United Kingdom’s elections not fulfilling their democratic function. However, the biggest argument for the UK’s elections being democratic is that everyone does have a chance to have one free vote, using a secret ballot. This is what a democratic election revolves around, and what some countries don’t have where, unfortunately, the elections are rigged and a extremist dictator is put into power.
