Winner Takes All

Imagine a horse race.The first horse to finish is the winner.This system-‘first past the post’-is how most people describe the system of voting that we use in the United Kingdom.What about the losers?In a race,the horse that comes second still gets a prize.In UK politics,if you come second,you get nothing.Currently the UK is divided into about 650 areas or ‘constituencies’,and each constituency has one representative or Member of Parliament(MP).In an election,the voters vote for representatives from many parties.