An Outsider’s Take: How UK Elections Compare to the US

By Matthew Dreysler, Intern at Unlock Democracy

As an American intern at Unlock Democracy, I have been exploring how the UK’s democratic system works and how it compares to what I know from home. This experience has given me a new perspective on the strengths and challenges faced by UK democracy today, as both the USA and UK are facing growing pressures from shifting voter attitudes and changing political landscapes.

Both Countries Use First Past the Post

Both the UK and the US use First Past the Post (FPTP) to elect their candidates. In this system, the candidate with the most votes in each district wins, even if they don't have an absolute majority. But the way FPTP shapes politics is quite different in each country.

In the US, FPTP is used to elect members of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. In these races, candidates compete in individual districts or states, and whoever gets the most votes wins. These elections are focused on representing the people of that state or district directly.

However, the US uses a different system to elect its president. Instead of First Past the Post, presidential elections are decided by the Electoral College, a system designed to represent states rather than just individual voters. Most states give all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote within that state. As a result, a candidate can become president without winning the most votes nationwide. This system encourages presidential campaigns to focus on winning key states rather than just accumulating the most votes overall, giving smaller or less populated states a greater influence in the outcome.

In contrast, the UK uses FPTP to elect Members of Parliament (MPs) in single member constituencies. The party that wins the most seats, but not necessarily the most votes usually forms the government. This means a party can win a majority of seats without winning most votes nationally if its support is spread efficiently across many areas. Other parties with a sizable number of votes may get few seats if their support is too spread out or concentrated in fewer places.

However, both systems are showing their limits. Over the last decade, these electoral structures have come under increasing pressure as voter dissatisfaction grows and political landscapes shift.

Challenges Facing Electoral Systems

In the last decade, both countries have experienced growing challenges with their electoral systems.

The US two-party system remains dominant, but politics has become highly polarized. Whichever party holds power, a large portion of the population often finds them intolerable, deepening political division. For example, US president Donald Trump received just under half the vote in the 2024 election.

In the UK, the two-party system is breaking down. Challenger parties are rising quickly due to widespread dissatisfaction with the two main parties, leading to unusual outcomes under FPTP. For example, the government elected in 2024 won with just about a third of the vote. Turnout was also below 60 percent, meaning that not only did two-thirds of voters choose other parties, but a significant portion of the public did not vote at all. This raises questions about how representative the government truly is under the current system.

The Illusion of More Choice in the UK

Although the UK appears to offer more political choices, its voting system limits how those choices translate into real power. Two recent examples of this are Reform UK and the Green Party, both of which have gained growing support but struggled to turn votes into seats under First Past the Post (FPTP).

Reform UK, a right-wing party formerly known as the Brexit Party, failed to win any seats in the 2019 general election. By 2024, however, they had secured five seats in Parliament with over 4 million votes, which was around 14.3 percent of the national vote. Their momentum continued in the 2025 local elections, where they won over 800 council seats, gained control of 12 local authorities, and won two mayoral races in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

The Green Party had a smaller total vote share in 2024 with just over 2 million votes, or about 7 percent, but still managed to win four seats in Parliament. Despite their differences, both parties highlight the same issue that millions of voters are left underrepresented.

From an American viewpoint, this disconnect between vote share and representation can seem especially frustrating. The UK's First Past the Post system will always struggle to fairly translate votes into power, raising important questions about how democratic and representative the system truly is.

Final Takeaway

From an international perspective, I see a system that offers more parties on the surface, yet still leaves many voters feeling unrepresented. The UK’s electoral system outcomes feel disconnected from the popular vote. The First Past the Post system can distort results so significantly that millions of voices go unheard in Parliament. The rise of Reform UK shows just how quickly public dissatisfaction can drive voters toward alternatives, but it also highlights how difficult it is for those alternatives to gain real power under the current system. 

Until electoral systems change, perhaps by adopting a proportional representation model that matches seats to vote share, too many voters will continue feeling sidelined. Both the UK and the US must consider reforms that ensure every ballot meaningfully influences the outcome and restores faith in democracy.