|
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but its majority now stood at 66 seats compared to the 160-seat majority it had previously held. It remains the last Labour general-election victory in the UK. The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy, however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity even before the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. The Conservative Party, led by Michael Howard since late 2003, campaigned on policies, such as immigration limits, improving poorly managed hospitals and reducing high crime rates, all under the slogan 'Are you thinking what we're thinking?'. The Liberal Democrats, led by Charles Kennedy, were opposed to the Iraq War given there had been no second UN resolution, and collected votes from disenchanted Labour voters. Tony Blair was returned as Prime Minister, with Labour holding 355 MPs but with a popular vote of 35.2%, the lowest of any majority government in British history. In terms of votes they were only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives, but still had a comfortable lead ahead of them in terms of seats. The Conservatives, however, did manage to return 198 MPs, 32 more than they had previously, and managed to win the popular vote in England while still ending up with 91 fewer MPs in England than Labour. The Liberal Democrats saw their popular vote increase by 3.7% and won the most seats for any third party since 1923, in the form of 62 MPs. Former Labour MP and anti-war activist George Galloway was elected as a member of the Commons under the Respect – The Unity Coalition banner, and two Single Area Party candidates were elected; Blaenau Gwent People's Voice and Health Concern in Worcestershire. In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionist Party, the more moderate of the main unionist parties and which had dominated Northern Ireland's politics since the 1920s, was reduced from six MPs to one, with party leader David Trimble himself losing his seat. The more hardline Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, with nine MPs. Following the election, Conservative leader Michael Howard resigned and was succeeded by David Cameron and in 2007, Blair resigned as Prime Minister and Labour leader to be replaced by Gordon Brown. The election results were broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by Peter Snow, David Dimbleby, Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Marr. ==Overview== The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain a large majority. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats since the 1992 general election, and move from being the Official Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both main parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a "decapitation" strategy targeting members of the Shadow Cabinet. The Lib Dems had also wished to become the governing party, but more realistically hoped of making enough gains to become the Official Opposition and/or play a major part in a parliament led by a minority Labour or Conservative government. In Northern Ireland the Democratic Unionist Party sought to make further gains over the Ulster Unionist Party in unionist politics, and Sinn Féin hoped to overtake the Social Democratic and Labour Party in nationalist politics. (Note that Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats in the House of Commons—they refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen as required). The pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) stood candidates in every constituency in Scotland and Wales respectively. Many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in the devolved assemblies and European Parliament included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish Green Party, and the Scottish Socialist Party. The Health Concern party stood again as well. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the 2005 general election. All parties campaigned through such tools as party manifestos, party political broadcasts and touring the country in what are commonly referred to as battle buses. Local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for fifteen hours, from 07:00 to 22:00 BST (UTC+1). The election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. 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「United Kingdom general election, 2005」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|