Plurality (voting) - in British English

In British English

In UK constituency elections, which typically feature three or more candidates representing major parties, a plurality is sometimes referred to as a "majority" or a "relative majority" while the terms "overall majority" or "absolute majority" are used to describe the support of more than one half of votes cast. The plurality voting system is called first past the post in the UK.

For example, consider an election where 100 votes are cast for three candidates, with Alice polling 40 votes, Bob 31, and Carol 29. A Briton might say "Alice won with a majority of 9" (since Alice polled 9 more votes than her closest competitor), whereas a Canadian would only say "Alice won with a plurality", since the Canadian definition uses the word "majority" only if Alice would have polled more than all her competitors combined.

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