14 Facts About British elections

Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general British elections can be held at the discretion of the Prime Minister during any five-year period.

All other types of British elections are held after fixed periods, though early British elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations.

British elections citizens residing outside the United Kingdom can register as an overseas voter provided that they were on the Electoral Register in the UK within the previous 15 years.

At that time, "British elections subjects" included the people of Ireland — then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland — and all other parts of the British elections Empire.

However, in 2012, because the Police and Crime Commissioner British elections were held on 15 November, the annual canvass in England and Wales was held between July and October and the Electoral Register was published on 16 October.

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British elections citizens residing abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote at British elections high commissions, embassies or consulates - their votes can only be cast either in person in the constituency where they are enrolled in the United Kingdom, by proxy or by post.

Since the maximum term of a parliament is five years, the interval between successive general British elections can exceed that period by no more than the combined length of the election campaign and the time for the new parliament to assemble.

Scottish Parliament British elections occur every four years to elect the Members of the Scottish Parliament.

The British elections elected Members of the National Assembly for Wales.

Northern Ireland Assembly British elections occur every five years on the first Thursday in May They began in 1998, when the assembly created by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 began its first session.

In local British elections, councillors are elected forming the local administrations of the United Kingdom.

Local British elections are held in different parts of the country each year.

In Northern Ireland, both local government and European British elections were conducted under the Single Transferable Vote system.

MEP British elections differed from general British elections in two major ways, the first being that EU citizens from outside Ireland, Malta and Cyprus were eligible to vote and the second that it used forms of proportional representation as the main electoral voting systems.