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39-535: While the Liberal government of H. H. Asquith supported this, a number of backbenchers, both Conservative and Liberal, did not, fearing that it would damage their parties’ success in general elections . Some pro-suffrage groups rejected the Bills because they only gave the vote to propertied women; some Members of Parliament rejected them because they did not want any women to have the right to vote. Liberals also opposed

78-497: A "Free Liberal" group (soon known as the "Wee Frees" after a Scottish religious sect of that name ); they accepted Asquith's appointment of Sir Donald Maclean as chairman in his absence. After a brief attempt to set up a joint committee with the Coalition Liberal MPs, the "Wee Frees" resigned the government whip on 4 April, although some Liberal MPs still remained of uncertain allegiance. Maclean served as Leader of

117-684: A Thursday; the last general election to take place on any other weekday was that of 1931 . Under the terms of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 , in force until March 2022, the period between one general election and the next was fixed at five years, unless the House of Commons passed one of the following: Although not provided for in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, an early election could also be brought about by an act of parliament specifically calling for

156-516: A betrayal, and their protest march became known as Black Friday (1910) . The Second Conciliation Bill was debated on 5 May 1911 and won a majority of 255 to 88 as a Private Members Bill . The bill was promised a week of government time. However, in November Asquith announced that he was in favour of a manhood suffrage bill and that suffragists could suggest and propose an amendment that would allow some women to vote. On 21 November 1911,

195-502: A coupon. The election was not chiefly fought over what peace to make with Germany, although those issues played a role. More important was the voters' evaluation of Lloyd George in terms of what he had accomplished so far and what he promised for the future. His supporters emphasised that he had won the Great War. Against his strong record in social legislation, he called for making "a country fit for heroes to live in". This election

234-428: A general election is a regularly scheduled election, typically including members of a legislature, and sometimes other officers such as a directly elected president . General elections may also take place at the same time as local , state / autonomous region , European Parliament , and other elections, where applicable. For example, on 25 May 2014, Belgian voters elected their national parliament , 21 members of

273-794: A general election, which (unlike the second option above) only required a simple majority. This was the mechanism used to precipitate the December 2019 election , when the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 was enacted. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 . The term general election is also used in the United Kingdom to refer to elections to any democratically elected body in which all members are up for election. Section 2 of

312-460: Is meant to elect a party's candidate for the position-in-question, a general election is meant to elect who occupies the position itself. Presidential primaries happen several months before the general election, though not all states hold primaries . In the Louisiana the expression general election means the runoff election which occurs between the two highest candidates as determined by

351-514: The Coupon Election . 80 Conservative candidates stood without a coupon. Of these, 35 candidates were Irish Unionists. Of the other non-couponed Conservative candidates, only 23 stood against a Coalition candidate; the remaining 22 candidates stood in areas where there were no coupons, or refused the offer of a coupon. The Labour Party , led by William Adamson , fought the election independently, as did those Liberals who did not receive

390-509: The House of Commons . Historically, English and later British general elections took place over a period of several weeks, with individual constituencies holding polling on different days. However, from the 1918 election onwards, the elections in all constituencies have been held on the same day. There has been a convention since the 1930s that general elections in Britain should take place on

429-589: The Scotland Act 1998 , for example, specifically refers to ordinary elections to the Scottish Parliament as general elections. In U.S. politics, general elections are elections held at any level (e.g. city, county, congressional district, state) that typically involve competition between at least two parties. General elections occur every two to six years (depending on the positions being filled, with most positions good for four years) and include

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468-596: The Women's Social and Political Union carried out an "official window smash" along Whitehall and Fleet Street; its targets included the offices of the Daily Mail and the Daily News and the official residences or homes of leading Liberal politicians. The bill was consequently dropped. The Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill was again introduced on 19 February 1912 and set down for Second Reading on 22 March, although

507-586: The jungle primary . 1918 United Kingdom general election David Lloyd George National Liberal David Lloyd George National Liberal The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War , and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George , sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported

546-551: The 20th century. Many young veterans reacted against the harsh tone of the campaign and became disillusioned with politics. In Ireland , the Irish Parliamentary Party , which favoured Home Rule within the United Kingdom, lost almost all their seats, most of which were won by Sinn Féin under Éamon de Valera , which called for independence. The executions of many of the leaders of the Easter uprising of 1916,

585-633: The Bill because they believed that the women whom the bill would enfranchise were more likely to vote Conservative than Liberal. Prime Minister Asquith agreed to give the bill parliamentary time after pressure from the Cabinet. The Bill passed its first reading. It passed a second reading with 320 for the notion and 175 against on 12 July. However Asquith called a general election on the 18th November 1910, meaning further parliamentary process could not take place. The Women's Social and Political Union saw this as

624-547: The European Parliament , and regional parliaments . In the United States , "general election" has a slightly different, but related meaning: the ordinary electoral competition following the selection of candidates in the primary election . The term general election in the United Kingdom often refers to the elections held on the same day in all constituencies of their members of Parliament (MPs) to

663-668: The Irish Parliamentary Party won four of those seats and Sinn Féin three. (The pact failed in East Down ). Joseph Devlin , memorably, also won Belfast (Falls) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in a straight fight with Éamon de Valera of Sinn Féin. Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to Parliament and also to the Dáil Éireann. She was a Sinn Féin member elected for Dublin St Patrick's , and like

702-548: The Opposition until Asquith returned at a by-election in February 1920 . The Labour Party greatly increased its vote share and surpassed the total votes of either faction of the Liberal party, but they lacked an official leader. Labour could only slightly increase their number of seats, however, from 42 to 57 and some of their earlier leaders including Ramsay MacDonald and Arthur Henderson lost their seats. Labour won

741-545: The Paris Peace talks began a few weeks after the election. An additional 47 Conservatives, 23 of whom were Irish Unionists, won without the coupon but did not act as a separate block or oppose the government except on the issue of Irish independence. While most of the pro-coalition Liberals were re-elected, the Independent Liberal faction was reduced to a handful of MPs, not all of whom were opponents of

780-604: The Representation of the People Act passed earlier in the year did not change that. One woman, Nina Boyle , had already presented herself for a by-election earlier in the year in Keighley, but had been turned down by the returning officer on technical grounds. Prior to this election the university constituency seats were re-allocated. Several seats were filled in multi-seat constituencies using STV. The election

819-574: The actual number of the Asquith faction was 27. Another historian puts the Asquith faction at 36 seats, of whom nine of these MPs subsequently joined the Coalition Liberal group. The remainder became bitter enemies of Lloyd George. Asquith's biographer Stephen Koss accepts that, although accounts differ as to the exact numbers, around 29 uncouponed Liberals had been elected. On 3 February 1919, 23 non-coalition Liberals formed themselves into

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858-465: The beginning of the Irish War of Independence . In the six Ulster counties that became Northern Ireland, Unionists consolidated their position by winning 23 out of the 30 seats. Cardinal Michael Logue brokered a pact in eight seats (one, East Donegal , not in the six counties), after nominations closed, where Catholic voters were instructed to vote for one particular nationalist party. Split evenly,

897-576: The coalition candidates. It was the first parliamentary election in which women were able to stand as candidates, following the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 , believed to be one of the shortest Acts of Parliament ever given Royal Assent. The Act was passed shortly before Parliament was dissolved. It followed a report by Law Officers that the Great Reform Act 1832 had specified parliamentary candidates had to be male, and that

936-545: The coalition government . These were nicknamed " Coalition Coupons ", and led to the election being known as the "coupon election". The result was a massive landslide in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the Conservatives and Coalition Liberals , with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. Nearly all the Liberal MPs without coupons were defeated, including party leader H. H. Asquith. It

975-462: The coalition. Asquith and the other leaders lost their seats, and only three with junior ministerial experience were elected. According to Trevor Wilson's book, The Downfall of the Liberal Party , 136 couponed Liberals were elected, whereas only 29 who did not receive the coupon were returned to Parliament, but as 8 Independent Liberals received the coupon and 10 Lloyd George Liberals did not,

1014-476: The debate was later delayed to 29 March. However this time the Bill was defeated by 208 to 222. The reason for the defeat was that the Irish Parliamentary Party believed that a debate over votes for women would be used to prevent Irish Home Rule . However, the Women's Social and Political Union blamed H. H. Asquith , as the eight members of the Government who had voted against the Bill would have overturned

1053-465: The election. Because of the resulting partition of Ireland , this was the last United Kingdom general election to include the entire island of Ireland. Lloyd George's coalition government was supported by a minority (majority after the election) of the Liberals and Bonar Law 's Conservatives . However, the election saw a split in the Liberal Party between those who were aligned with Lloyd George and

1092-505: The force-feeding of those imprisoned in connection with the uprising who had gone on a hunger strike in 1917, and the Conscription Crisis of 1918 all served to alienate Irish Catholic opinion from the United Kingdom. The Sinn Féin candidates had promised on the campaign trail to win an Irish republic "by any means necessary", which was a code-word for violence, though it is not entirely clear if all Irish voters understood what

1131-405: The government and those who were aligned with Asquith , the party's official leader. On 14 November it was announced that Parliament, which had been sitting since 1910 and had been extended by emergency wartime action, would dissolve on 25 November, with elections on 14 December. Following confidential negotiations over the summer of 1918, it was agreed that certain candidates were to be offered

1170-547: The most seats in Wales (which had previously been dominated by the Liberals) for the first time, a feat it has continued to the present day. The Conservative MPs included record numbers of corporate directors, bankers and businessmen, while Labour MPs were mostly from the working class. Bonar Law himself symbolised the change in the type of a Conservative MP as he was a Presbyterian Canadian-born Scottish businessman who became, in

1209-497: The party, which was rapidly losing popular support, and never regained power. It was the first general election to be held after enactment of the Representation of the People Act 1918 . It was thus the first election in which women over the age of 30 (with some property qualifications), and all men over the age of 21, could vote. Previously, all women and many poor men had been excluded from voting. Women generally supported

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1248-650: The phrase meant. The 73 Sinn Féin elected members declined to take their seats in the British House of Commons , sitting instead in the Irish revolutionary assembly, the Dáil Éireann . On 17 May 1918 almost the entire leadership of Sinn Féin, including de Valera and Arthur Griffith , had been arrested. In total 47 of the Sinn Féin MPs were elected from jail. The Dáil first convened on 21 January 1919, which marks

1287-401: The presidential election. "General election" does not refer to special elections , which fill out positions prematurely vacated by the previous office holder. Major general elections are as follows: The term general election is distinguished from primaries or caucuses, which are intra-party elections meant to select a party's official candidate for a particular race. Thus, if a primary

1326-443: The result had they voted the other way. The Franchise Bill, for universal manhood suffrage , was introduced in 1912 but was strongly criticised and made no progress. General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of an elected body, typically a legislature . They are distinct from by-elections , which fill a seat that has become vacant between general elections. In most systems,

1365-607: The support of the Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservative Party at the next general election. To these candidates a letter, known as the Coalition Coupon , was sent, indicating the government's endorsement of their candidacy. 159 Liberal, 364 Conservative, 20 National Democratic and Labour , and 2 Coalition Labour candidates received the coupon. For this reason, the election is often called

1404-651: The words of his biographer Robert Blake, the leader of "the Party of Old England, the Party of the Anglican Church and the country squire, the party of broad acres and hereditary titles". Bonar Law's ascent as leader of the Conservatives marked a shift in Conservative leaders from the aristocrats who generally led the party in the 19th century to a more middle class leadership who usually led the party in

1443-458: Was also known as a khaki election , due to the immediate postwar setting and the role of the demobilised soldiers. The coalition won the election easily, with the Conservatives the big winners. They were the largest party in the governing majority. Lloyd George remained Prime Minister, despite the Conservatives outnumbering his pro-coalition Liberals and had a majority in their own right. The Conservatives welcomed his leadership on foreign policy as

1482-635: Was also noted for the dramatic result in Ireland , which showed clear disapproval of government policy. The Irish Parliamentary Party were almost completely wiped out by the Irish republican party Sinn Féin , who vowed in their manifesto to establish an independent Irish Republic . They refused to take their seats in Westminster, instead forming a breakaway government and declaring Irish independence . The Irish War of Independence began soon after

1521-523: Was the first general election to include on a single day all eligible voters of the United Kingdom, although the vote count was delayed until 28 December so that the ballots cast by soldiers serving overseas could be included in the tallies. It resulted in a landslide victory for the coalition government of David Lloyd George, who had replaced H. H. Asquith as Prime Minister in December 1916. They were both Liberals, and continued to battle for control of

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