The electorate votes freely and in secret at periodic elections all five years. Usually the Queen dissolves the parliament caused by an advice of the Prime Minister before the end of this five year term. Then the monarch calls the election to the House of Commons. Britain is divided into 659 constituencies. This number changes from year to year, because the population in some areas increases, while it de-creases in others. So the boundaries in the electoral map are in that way chosen that there lives the same number of people in each constituency. Each constituency elects on representative to the House of Commons. Usually the electorate votes between rival candidates, who represent political parties. In Britain the simple majority system also called first-past-the-post system is used. This means that the candidate who has received the largest number of votes in his constituency is elected, although he may not have received an absolute majority. In contrast Austria uses a propor-tional system like the most democracies. This is an electoral system, which gives each party the number of seats in proportion to the number of votes it's candidates receive. If a seat is vacant in the period between the general elections, then a by-election is held. The leader of the party that got the most seats in the House of Com-mons is invited by the monarch to form the government. He or she becomes Prime Minister and chooses the other ministers. 

Election 1997          Conservative Party: 165/659  Labour Party: 418/659 Others: 74/659

The House of Commons elects a speaker out of them. The Labour Party has an overall majority of 177. This means that this party has 177 seats more than all the other parties together.  Cabinet: Chancellor of the Exchequer Home Secretary Foreign Secretary Education Secretary  Northern Ireland Secretary The president of the house of Lords is called the Lord Chancellor.