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Elections in the Kingdom of Great Britain were principally general elections and by-elections to the House of Commons of Great Britain. General elections did not have fixed dates, as parliament was summoned and dissolved within the royal prerogative, although on the advice of the ministers of the Crown. The first such general election was that of 1708, and the last that of 1796. In 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland replaced the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. For the period after 1801, see Elections in the United Kingdom. For details of the national elections of Great Britain, see: *British general election, 1707 *British general election, 1708 *British general election, 1710 *British general election, 1713 *British general election, 1715 *British general election, 1722 *British general election, 1727 *British general election, 1734 *British general election, 1741 *British general election, 1747 *British general election, 1754 *British general election, 1761 *British general election, 1768 *British general election, 1774 *British general election, 1780 *British general election, 1784 *British general election, 1790 *British general election, 1796 ==Political factions== Politics in Great Britain was dominated by the Whigs and the Tories, although neither were political parties in the modern sense but loose alliances of interests and individuals. The Whigs included many of the leading aristocratic dynasties who were most committed to the Protestant settlement of the throne, with later support from the emerging industrial interests and rich city merchants, while the Tories were associated with the landed gentry, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.〔Keith Feiling; ''A History of the Tory Party, 1640–1714'' (1924), (online edition ); ''The Second Tory Party, 1714–1832'' (1938), (online edition )〕 Members of Parliament needed to appeal to a much smaller electorate than is the case today, especially in the boroughs. In the case of the rotten boroughs, a majority of the votes was usually controlled by one person, or by a small group. This gave less power to organized political parties and more to influential individuals, some of whom had themselves elected in the constituencies they controlled. Such seats were also sold for hard cash. Thus, many members were fundamentally Independents, even if they attached themselves to one party or another during their parliamentary careers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elections in Great Britain」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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