ABSTRACT
Even to the casual observer, the two most obvious features of the electoral system used for the British Parliament today are that it utilizes plurality voting and that it is based entirely on territorially-defined constituencies. Unlike most other countries in Western Europe, Britain does not employ proportional representation, nor any form of party list system. Indeed, although there were many reforms of the British electoral system in the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century, these key features of British elections have survived since medieval times. Nevertheless, as we shall see, in other respects there have been extraordinary transformations during the last two centuries in the British electoral system.
