this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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UK Politics

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General Discussion for politics in the UK.
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It's time to see if the polls are right.

Previously: the voting megathread

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Jeremy Corbyn describes his victory as "a good majority".

He did not, in fact, win a majority, although he got very close. 49.2%

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Majority just means a larger number. The word has nothing to do with above 50%.

It is just used so in parliament because all non government seats can vote against the government, so to have the largest voting block you must have more then any other group.

As that is not the case in a constituency election, 1 vote over each other party is a referred to as a majority.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)

No, majority means 50%. The term for the largest number is "plurality".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"A plurality vote (in North American English) or relative majority (in British English)[1] describes the circumstance when a party, candidate, or proposition polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_(voting)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plurality

  1. (countable) A number or part of a whole which is greater than any other number or part, but not necessarily a majority.

  2. (countable) A number of votes for a single candidate or position which is greater than the number of votes gained by any other single candidate or position voted for, but which is less than a majority of valid votes cast. Synonym: relative majority

  3. (countable) A margin by which a number exceeds another number, especially of votes.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/majority

  1. More than half (50%) of some group.
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