British politics: to come in first, finish third

In my recent blogpost on the British elections, I noted that the district boundaries for this election (which for the first time are based on the now nine-year-old 2001 Census) favor the Labour party. And how! Consider what happens when you put the percentages for the three parties in three recent polls into seats according to this website:

Poll       %Cons %Lab %LibDem     #Cons #Lab #LibDem

TNS           34      29       30            258    264     96

Harris        31      26       30            247    256   115

MORI        32      28       32            238    265   115

In all three polls Labour comes in third in popular vote but first in the number of seats, though far short of the 326 majority needed to form a government without support from other parties.

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