Constituency facts for kids
A constituent is someone who elects another person as their representative in the government. A constituency is all of the constituents of a representative. Constituents also have the power to remove their representative from the position to which they have appointed him or her. All of the constituents who are registered to vote are called the electorate.
In the United Kingdom, a parliamentary constituency is sometimes called a Parliamentary seat or a Division. Constituencies for local government elections are called either Wards or electoral divisions.
As of 2005, there are 646 House of Commons constituencies in the UK:
- List of Parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom
- MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 lists the constituencies after that election.
Northern Ireland has 18 constituencies, each of which elect six MLAs to the Northern Ireland Assembly under the Single Transferable Vote system.
The Scottish Parliament has 73 single-member constituencies elected on a first past the post basis, with the remaining 56 seats in the parliament being selected by the Additional Member System (AMS). Since the passage of the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, the constituencies of the Scottish Parliament are no longer identical to those of the House of Commons.
The National Assembly for Wales has 40 constituencies elected by first past the post which are identical to the Welsh constituencies of the House of Commons. Its remaining 20 seats are selected by AMS.
The London Assembly has 14 constituencies elected by First-past-the-post voting. Its remaining 11 seats are also selected by AMS.
The United States House of Representatives has 435 constituencies each electing one member.
See also
In Spanish: Circunscripción electoral para niños
