HOW BRITISH ELECTIONS WORK

Last week's general election meant as much to Britons as a combined election of President, House of Representatives and full Senate would mean to Americans. So far as the national government is concerned, a vote for a member of Parliament is a vote for the whole works.

In seven centuries of jurisdictional thrust and parry, the House of Commons has whittled away the executive prerogatives of the British monarchy, broken the House of Lords to the rank of a disregarded auxiliary, and concentrated in its own hands the two branches of government which the Constitution of the U.S. most carefully separates: executive and legislative. In Britain, the House of Commons is omnicompetent. By a simple majority vote, it makes changes in the unwritten British constitution, and expands or contracts the liberties of the British people. And as leader of the majority party in Parliament, the British Prime Minister wields executive powers equal to those of the President.

The Candidates. There are 625 seats in Commons (the U.S. House of Representatives has 435). Distribution: England 506, Wales 36, Scotland 71, Northern Ireland 12. Average number of voters in British constituencies: 60,000 (in U.S. congressional districts: 200,000). In the U.S., Representatives must be at least 25, Senators 30. Any British subject over 21, except judges, government officials and clergy, may stand for election if he can put up a deposit of -L-150 ($420). This deposit is returned if the candidate polls more than one-eighth of the total vote cast; all ten Communist candidates lost theirs last week.

There are no U.S.-style primaries in Britain. Instead, the candidates for the House of Commons are selected by central committees of their parties in London. Candidates must be "adopted" by local party associations, but this is usually a mere formality. Unlike U.S. Congressmen, who make much of their being home-town boys, British M.P.s need not live in the constituencies they represent, and usually don't. Last week a Welsh miner was Labor's candidate in an English farming constituency (he was trounced); Sir David Robertson, a London businessman, won a seat in a remote Scots Highland constituency. Even Winston Churchill, who is seldom seen in a kilt, represented a Scottish constituency from 1908 to 1922.

A party can virtually ensure that its leaders keep their seats by assigning them to "safe" (i.e., traditionally loyal) constituencies. Under such a system, for example, Dean Acheson would have to run for office; and the Democratic National Committee would likely run him in Boss Flynn's safest Bronx district, or in the surest Democratic part of the Deep South. Robert Taft would be given a safe Republican seat in Maine or Vermont.

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.

-Among them lunatics, unless temporarily lucid on Election Day, felons and peers.

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