IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Name	Official Name	Type
British House of Commons		Lower House
British House of Lords		Upper House

Chief of State: King CHARLES III
Head of Government: Prime Minister Rishi SUNAK
Assembly: United Kingdom has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the House of Lords with 788 seats and the House of Commons with 650 seats.

The King is a hereditary monarch.
The Prime Minister is elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term. Following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually the prime minister.
In the House of Lords, 670 members are appointed by the monarch and 92 members are hereditary *. In the House of Commons 650 members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.
- The number of Life Peers in the House of Lords is not fixed. The King formally appoints life peers based on a recommendation from the Prime Minister. The right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords was ended in 1999 by the House of Lords Act. However, 92 members will remain until the next stage of the Lords reform process. 26 seats are reserved for Bishops and Archbishops of the Church of England.

Election For	Date	Votes	Registered Voters	Turn Out
British House of Commons	2001-06-07	26,365,192	44,403,238	59.38
British House of Commons	2005-05-05	27,148,510	44,180,243	61.45
British House of Commons	2010-05-06	29,653,638	45,315,669	65.44
Referendum	2011-05-05	19,279,022	45,684,501	42.2
British House of Commons	2015-05-07	30,698,210	46,425,386	66.12
Referendum	2016-06-23	33,577,342	46,500,001	72.21
British House of Commons	2017-06-08	32,204,141	46,800,000	68.81
British House of Commons	2019-12-12	32,132,029	47,562,702	67.56

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