Foreign News: HOW BRITISH ELECTIONS WORK

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The Leader. Britons do not vote for a Prime Minister. A British election is simply a party contest for a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill were both re-elected last week in "safe" constituencies, but as ordinary M.P.s, not as prospective Prime Ministers. Of Great Britain's 34,915,112 registered voters, only those in Churchill's own constituency of Woodford voted for or against him personally. A man becomes leader of his party not by the public's decision, and not by a party convention, but by vote of the fellow members of his party in Parliament. Under the British constitution, the leader of the party which wins a majority in the House of Commons is asked by the King to form a government.

The Ballot. With a few exceptions,-all registered British subjects of 21 and over may vote. Britons do not use voting machines. A voter checks his name in a voting register, marks his vote with an X on a postcard-size ballot on which the, names-but not the parties -of the Parliamentary candidates in his constituency are printed. He has but one vote to cast; the problem of voting a straight ticket does not arise.

When the polls close, the sealed ballot boxes are taken to a central "counting house.'' Before the count begins, election officials mix together the ballots from all polling stations in the constituency. This makes it impossible to analyze the votes by districts. A simple majority is enough for election; there are no runoffs, and ties are settled by drawing lots.

The Election. The House of Commons is elected for a period of not more than five years, but it is traditionally dissolved and new elections are called whenever the Government is defeated on a major bill in the House of Commons, or whenever the Prime Minister feels it his duty to seek a fresh mandate from the country, or whenever he thinks it tactically advantageous. Unlike the President of the U.S., who is safe in office for four years (except for impeachable misconduct) even if Congress and the public disapprove of his policies, the British Prime Minister must resign as soon as he loses the confidence of the House of Commons. Clement Attlee actually did not need to seek election again until 1955, but with a shaky parliamentary majority of only six, he obviously thought it would only be a question of time until his government fell-and possibly at a more unsuitable time.