2015 United Kingdom general election

The next general election to select Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (UK) is to take place on 7 May 2015. This is the first election whose date was known well in advance, a result of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011. The current coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will contest the election as competing parties. The latter have announced, as they did for the previous election, that, if no party gets an overall majority, they will give priority in negotiations to the largest party in the Commons.

Timetable ([1]):

• 30 March: dissolution of Parliament
• 9 April: nomination deadline; a provisional figure for total nominations is 3963 ([2])
• 7 May: polling day
• 7/8 May: counting and announcement of results
• 18 May: new Parliament meets to (re)elect Speakers and swear in members
• 27 May: Queen's Speech: votes on this over the following days should confirm the Government

There are 650 seats to be filled.