What is First-past-the-post voting?
'''First-past-the-post''' is a [[voting system]] used by some countries to [[election|elect]] their governments or the members of their parliaments. In a first-past-the-post system, a country is divided into [[constituency|constituencies]]. In these constituencies people known as [[candidates]] each of whom usually represents a different [[political party]], will stand for election to the country's [[parliament]]. In the individual constituencies, the candidate who gets the most votes from people, wins the race to be elected to a seat in parliament. '''Plurality''' is another name for such an electoral [[system]]. It is in contrast to the '''majority''' system, where the winning candidate must have more votes than ''all other candidates combined''. If a party wins over 50% of the seats, it can form a [[majority government]]. If no single party wins over 50% of the seats, then either the party with the most seats can form a minority government, or a coalition government can be formed from two or more of the other political parties who together have over 50% of the seats. Countries using first-past-the-post include the [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[India]] and partly in the [[United States]]. == Considerations == First-past-the-post, often called 'plurality voting', is the most common method for electing [[Representation (politics)|representatives]] in the [[United States]] and some other countries. Voters vote for one candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins. [[Political parties]] often use a primary in order to avoid splitting their party vote in a general election. For example, if 60% of the voters are Republican, and 40% Democrat, but two Republicans run for the same office and each get 30% of the vote, the Democrat would win with 40%, since that is the most votes, even if 60% of voters least preferred the Republicans. If more than two candidates are on the general election ballot, voters often compromise vote an acceptable candidate whom they think has a chance of winning. Opponents