ABSTRACT
Elections enable individual citizens to participate directly in politics by choosing representatives at various levels. There is an extensive literature on the properties and effects of different electoral systems and considerable debate among enthusiasts about the various alleged good and bad points of each. In general elections, however, the electoral system has ensured that the party fragmentation among voters has been reflected in the composition of the House of Commons to only a limited extent. Looking at and analysing variations in aggregate turnout across time, space and types of election is certainly fascinating. The turnout of strong identifiers has not changed a great deal since the 1960s — decline is concentrated in the other groups. The second development undermining the Butler-Stokes model of party choice has been a steady decline in the strength of party identification amongst the electorate.
