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Hey everyone and welcome back to
another episode of the 

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Understandable English Podcast. 
And today I will be talking 

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about the UK general election. 
So I'm going to explain what 

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that means, what it is and how 
the electoral system, so the 

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voting system or the democracy 
that we have in the UK works. 

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So I'm going to explain the 
process and a little bit about 

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this election in the UK. 
So after listening to this 

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podcast, you will understand how
our system works in the UK, how 

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voting works and a little bit 
about this important election 

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which is coming up soon. 
OK, so the next big election in 

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the UK is coming up on July the 
4th, so the 4th of July. 

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So in the UK, the election 
process is a big part of our 

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democracy. 
It's the time when citizens 

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across the nation come together 
to make their voices heard and 

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to try and make change in 
government. 

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So they vote for the party or 
the members of Parliament that 

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they think will best represent 
their views. 

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So represent it basically is the
most similar to their views or 

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beliefs and that's the people 
that you should vote for. 

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So how does it work? 
Well, let's start with the 

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basics. 
The UK operates under a 

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parliamentary system and what 
this means is that voters, so 

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the the people, the public don't
directly vote for the Prime 

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Minister. 
The Prime Minister is sort of 

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the head of parliament and the 
head of the country. 

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But instead we vote for members 
of Parliament, or as I call them

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and most people call them, MPs 
for short. 

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And MP means Member of 
Parliament and these members 

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represent or or four different 
areas of the UK and the UK is 

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mapped out or divided into 650 
parliamentary constituencies. 

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And what that means is that 
there are 650 places for members

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of Parliament, and in each of 
these, 650 people vote for the 

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person that they want to 
represent their area in 

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Parliament, to pass laws and to 
vote on new laws and to really 

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try to make a change in the 
country. 

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These areas are different in 
size and demographics, but each 

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one of these areas has roughly 
or approximately the same amount

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of voters or people within them 
when it is Election Day. 

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So the day that we vote 
illegible or people who are able

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to vote head to their local 
polling or voting station and 

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they cast their ballots, what 
does that mean to cast your 

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ballot? 
That means to vote. 

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We vote on a piece of paper, and
this piece of paper is called a 

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ballot. 
And when they're voting on their

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ballot, they vote for a 
candidate or a person who is 

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wanting to become an MP or a 
member of Parliament, usually a 

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member of a political party, 
although there are also some 

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independent candidates that 
stand in many areas. 

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And these are candidates or 
people who do not represent a 

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political party, they represent 
themselves. 

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And during the day, you can turn
up and vote from morning until 

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evening. 
And once the polls or the voting

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closes and finishes, this is 
where the real drama and 

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excitement begins. 
The votes are counted so people 

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count up how many votes are for 
each person and the candidate 

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with the most votes becomes the 
Member of Parliament or MP for 

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that area and they represent all
the people from their area in 

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the House of Commons, which is 
the main law making place in the

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UK. 
This is the part where it can 

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get quite interesting. 
The party that wins the most 

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seats in the House of Commons 
usually can make the government,

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so they form the government. 
If one party gets an outright 

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majority, so a clear majority 
most of the seats, their leader,

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the party leader will become the
Prime Minister. 

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However, if no one party wins a 
clear majority or most of the 

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votes and seats, it results in 
something that we call a hung 

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parliament. 
This is when it one party can't 

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make a government by themselves 
because they don't have a clear 

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victory. 
And in these cases, parties have

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to negotiate or make a deal with
one another to form a coalition 

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government. 
So when more than one party 

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works together to make a 
majority to make enough seats to

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form a government, and in this 
government, the largest party 

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forms the government and the 
smaller parties support them and

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help. 
That is the main process of how 

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things in the UK work and how 
democracy here works. 

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Once a government has been made,
or one party or a coalition 

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government is made, the Prime 
Minister picks his ministers. 

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So people in charge of different
areas, for example, there could 

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be a Minister of Health, a 
minister of defence, a minister 

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for the economy, There are all 
sorts of positions and the Prime

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Minister can even make new 
positions as well. 

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OK, so now that we understand a 
little bit about how the process

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works, I know it might be 
complicated with some of those 

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words, but if you have any 
problems just listen again to 

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that part of the podcast and 
even have a read online in your 

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own language about how the UK 
system or political system 

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works. 
But what about the next 

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election? 
So the election which is on the 

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4th of July. 
Currently the Conservative Party

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and their leader Rishi Sunak is 
in government. 

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So they are in charge of the UK 
government and they have 345 

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seats out of 650. 
And the second largest party is 

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the Labour Party with their 
leader Keir Starmer, and they 

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have 206 seats in Parliament. 
But a lot of people think, and 

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it looks very clear, that in 
this election, this next 

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election, there could be some 
big changes, the polls. 

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So the predictions or ideas 
about this next election show 

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that the Labour Party will 
likely win and the Conservative 

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Party will lose. 
This is because of a lot of 

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different reasons from Brexit, 
so the problems associated with 

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Brexit, to the issues around how
our country dealt with the COVID

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pandemic, to lots and lots of 
problems within the Conservative

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Party. 
They have changed their leader 

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many times in the last few years
so it will be very interesting 

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to see how they do in this 
election and it could be a very,

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very big and changing election 
for the UK. 

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For the last 14 years the 
Conservative Party has been in 

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government, they have been in 
charge of the UK, so it will be 

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the biggest change in a long 
time in my life to our 

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government if they don't win 
this election. 

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But we will have to wait and 
see. 

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So keep an eye out and have a 
look at the results when they 

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happen. 
Thank you very much for 

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listening to this episode of the
Understandable English Podcast. 

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I hope it was interesting, 
informative and enjoyable for 

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you. 
Thank you for listening and have

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a great day. 
I'll talk to you soon.