COUNTRY	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
ELECTION TYPE	Parliamentary
DATE	May 5, 2005

• 645* seats in the House of Commons.

* Starting with the 2005 parliamentary term, the number of Scottish constituencies in the UK parliament was reduced by 13 to restore parity with English seats after the 1999 Scottish devolution. The House of Commons consequently shrank to 646 seats. However, only 645 parliamentary seats were contested at the general election due to the death of the Liberal Democrat candidate in Staffordshire South. A by-election for this seat will follow.

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Tony BLAIR
• Assembly: Great Britain has a bicameral Parliament with 693 members in the House of Lords and 659* seats in the House of Commons.

* Reflects number of seats before election. See note above.

• The monarch is hereditary.
• Members of the House of Lords are hereditary or appointed by the monarch. Members of the House of Commons are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms.

• Party: Labor
  Leader: Tony BLAIR
  Seats won in this election: 356
  Seats won in last election: 413
  
  
• Party: Conservative
  Leader: Michael HOWARD
  Seats won in this election: 197
  Seats won in last election: 166
  
  
• Party: Liberal Democrats
  Leader: Charles KENNEDY
  Seats won in this election: 62
  Seats won in last election: 52
  
  

• The last parliamentary election was held on June 7, 2001.

• Population: 60,270,708
• Number of registered voters: 44,180,243 (est.)

• Tony Blair is the only Labor leader to have won three elections in a row. The only other post-war prime minister to have won three successive general elections was Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) from the Conservative Party.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: IFES ELECTIONGUIDE ONLINE