At stake in this election:      

• The 650 seats in the House of Commons[1]

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister David CAMERON
• Assembly: United Kingdom has a bicameral Parliament consisting of the House of Lords (780 seats) and the House of Commons (650 seats).

* Heir Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is hereditary.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term. Following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually the prime minister.
• There are 780 seats in the House of Lords.* As of 2014 there are 667 life peers, 88 hereditary peers, and 25 clergy.** The House of Commons has had 650 seats since the 2010 election.  Members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.

* Members of the House of Lords are not elected.  The Queen formally appoints life peers based on a recommendation from the Prime Minister. The number of seats is not fixed.

**The right of hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords was ended in 1999 by the House of Lords Act. 

Main parties in the electoral race[2]:

• Party: Conservative Party
  • Leader: David CAMERON
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 306
• Party: Labour Party*
  • Leader: Ed MILIBAND
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 258
• Party: Liberal Democrats
  • Leader: Nick CLEGG
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 57
• Party: Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
  • Leader: Peter ROBINSON
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 8
• Party: Scottish National Party (SNP)
  • Leader: Nicola STURGEON
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 6
• Party: Sinn Fein
  • Leader: Gerard (Gerry) ADAMS
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 5
• Party: Plaid Cymru / Party of Wales
  • Leader: Leanne WOOD
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 3
• Party: Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) / Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre
  • Leader: Alasdair MCDONNELL
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 3
• United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)
  • Leader: Nigel FARAGE
  • Seats won in the last House of Commons election: 0^**
• Party: Green Party
  • Leader: Natalie BENNETT
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 1
• Party: Alliance Party
  • Leader: David FORD
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 1
• Party: Co-operative Party
  • Leader: Gareth Thomas
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 32*
• Party: Respect Party
  • Leader: George GALLOWAY
  • Seats won in last House of Commons election: 0

*Co-Operative Party candidates run jointly with the Labour Party as “Labour and Co-operative Party” candidates. The 32 seats are therefore included within the 258 Labour seats shown above. This arrangement has been in place since 1927.[3] 

** UKIP did not win any seats at the 2010 General election but have since won two by-elections and had two MPs before the 2015 election.

Last election:

• The last election for the House of Commons was held on 6 May 2010.  There were 45,597,461registered voters for the election.  The Conservative Party won 306 seats (of 650), the Labour Party won 258 seats, the Liberal Democrats won 57 seats, the Democratic Unionists won 8 seats, the Scottish National Party won 6 seats, Sinn Fein won 5 seats, Plaid Cymru won 3 seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party won 3 seats, the Alliance Party won 1 seat, the Green Party won 1 seat, and an independent candidate (Sylvia Hermon, formerly of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)) won 1 seat.[4] 

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 64,105,700 (2013 est.)[5]
• Registered Voters: 45,325,078  (2014)[6]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 32,572,800 (2013 est.)[7]
• Is the United Kingdom a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (22 July 1981)
• Has the United Kingdom ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 April 1986)
• Gender Quota:  No legislated quotas.  However, voluntary quotas have been adopted by some political parties.[8]
• Female Candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Legislators: 148 (22.8%) of 650 seats in the House of Commons[9]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 14[10]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A[11]

Disability Data[12]:

• Is the United Kingdom a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
• Has the United Kingdom ratified CRPD: Yes (8 June 2009)