ELECTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN
1.Read and translate the text:
When speaking about General Election, election to the House of Commons is meant. The party that has won the General Election makes up the majority in the House of Commons and forms the Government. The leader of the majority party becomes the Prime Minister and the leader of British Government. The party with the next largest number of members in the House forms the official Opposition, and the leader of the Opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons.
The British Government is elected for up to five years. The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election.
About a month before the election the Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party.
The date is announced to the party. The prime Minister formally asks the Sovereign to dissolve Parliament. Once Parliament is dissolved, all MPs are unemployed, but government officers continue to function.
Then party manifestoes are published and campaigning begins throughout the country. It is covered by press, radio and television.
Voting takes place on Polling Day usually on Thursday. The results from each constituency are announced as soon as the votes are counted, usually the same night. The national result is known by the next morning at the latest.
As soon as it is clear that one party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons, its leader is formally invited by the Sovereign to form a government.
2.Give Russian equivalents to English words and phrases:всеобщие выборы, распустить парламент, программа партии, предвыборная кампания, голосование, день голосования, подсчитать голоса, сформировать правительство.
3.Put the events preceding General Election into logic order:
a)The date of election is announced to the party.
b) The Prime Minister chooses the date of the next General Election.
c) All MPs are unemployed.
d)Party manifestoes are published.
e)The Prime Minister meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date which would best suit the party.
f)The Sovereign dissolves Parliament.
g)Campaigning begins.
4.Give definitions to:
- General Election;
- majority party;
- Prime Minister;
- official Opposition;
- party manifestoes;
- election campaigning;
- Polling Day.
Standing as a candidate at an election
Vocabulary
| candidate[’kændə‚deɪt] | кандидат |
| signature [’sɪgnətʃər] | подпись |
| Commonwealth [’kɒmən‚welƟ] | Британский союз |
| bankrupt [’bæŋkrəpt] | банкрот |
| imprisonment [ɪm’prɪzənmənt] | тюремное заключение |
| Disqualification Act | дисквалификационный акт |
| judge [dʒʌdʒ] | судья |
1.Read and translate the text:
British elections are usually fought between political parties, not individuals. Therefore, people who want to be elected to Parliament need to be nominated by one of the main political parties.
There is nothing to stop candidates from standing for election. A candidate has only to pay a £500 deposit which is lost if he gets less than 5% of the total votes. He or she also must collect ten signatures from residents in the constituency where he wants to stand.
Any man or woman, who is a British citizen, or a citizen of another Commonwealth country may stand as a candidate at an election whether or not he or she belongs to a political party. He or she must be aged 21 or over and not disqualified in any way.
Those disqualified from election are the following:
-Members of the House of Lords including those bishops who are Lords Spiritual gone bankrupts.
-people sentenced to more than one year’s imprisonment;
-persons convicted of illegal or corrupt practices at elections;
-people holding offices listed in the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975. This includes judges, civil servants, some local government officers, members of the regular armed forces, some members of public corporations and government commissions, and members of the parliaments or assemblies of countries outside Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.
-‘idiots’ and ‘lunatics’ (in their non-lucid periods) as legally defined.
2.Give English equivalents to the Russian words and phrases:
выдвигать свою кандидатуру(номинироваться), баллотироваться на выборы, взнос, местный житель, гражданин, коррупционная деятельность, занимать должность, гражданские служащие, правительственные чиновники.