At stake in this election:

• 645 seats in the House of Commons

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Anthony (Tony) BLAIR
• Assembly: United Kingdom has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the House of Lords with 693 seats and the House of Commons with 646 seats.

* Heir Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is hereditary.
• 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, 526 members are appointed by the monarch and 92 members are hereditary *. In the House of Commons 659 members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.**

* The Queen 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.

** Starting with the 2005 parliamentary term, the number of Scottish constituencies in the UK parliament was reduced by 13 to restore parity with English seats after the 1999 Scottish devolution. The House of Commons consequently shrank to 646 seats.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Labour Party
  • Leader: Tony BLAIR
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 356
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 413
• Party: Conservative Party
  • Leader: Michael HOWARD
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 197
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 166
• Party: Liberal Democrats
  • Leader: Charles KENNEDY
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 62
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 52
• Party: Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 9
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Scottish National Party (SNP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 6
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Sinn Fein
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 5
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Plaid Cymru / Party of Wales
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 3
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 3
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 1
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Respect-Unity Coalition
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 1
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 1
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: N/A
• Party: Others
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Commons election: 1
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 0

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last parliamentary election was held on June 7, 2001.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 60,270,708 (July 2004 est.)
• Registered Voters: 44,180,243 (May 2005 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 30,833,194 (2005)

·         Is United Kingdom a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (22 July 1981)

·         Has United Kingdom ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 April 1986)

·         Gender Quota: No (there are some political parties that have adopted voluntary gender quotas)

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 128 (House of Commons) (following the 2005 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 14 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is United Kingdom a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has United Kingdom ratified CRPD: Yes (8 June 2009)

·         Population with a disability: 9,040,606 (est.)