British electoral system

[MLSWirral]

Why are elections in Britain now always held on Thursdays?

[archbishop]

It can be any day but just happens to be tradition.

[bernardo]

The traditional explanation that I have heard is that payday for the workers is / was on Friday.  They go out and spend all their money at the weekend on drink and debauchery, but by the time it's Thursday they have spent all their money and are now frugal and impoverished again, so they can be trusted to make a sobre judgement about the best interests of the nation.

 

Even now, there is flexibility in the date of parliamentary by-elections; the returning officer of the constituency can theoretically set the date on any day within a range of about four days.  The most recent occasion on which a parliamentary by-election was held on a non-Thursday was in Hamilton in Scotland on Wednesday 31st May 1978, because Thursday 1st June clashed with an important football match in the World Cup.  The most recent occasion on which any election in Britain was on a non-Thurday was a local council by-electionon Monday 5th April 2004, because there is an archaic law which prevents elections from being held on Maundy Thursday.

 

Incidentally, local elections in Northern Ireland are normally held on Wednesdays because the electoral system (Single Transferable Vote) means that it takes about two days to count all the stages of the voting - so they can get most of it finished by Friday evening so that they don't have to let it hang over the weekend (or so that they don't have to do counting on Saturday).

[Quizmonster]

Since 1935, all general elections have been held on a Thursday, though prior to that time, it could be any day of the week except Sunday.  Three reasons are generally given for the choice of day.  Firstly, Thursday was commonly an early-closing day, so workers had more opportunity to get to the polling-stations.  Secondly - as B says above - Friday was pay-day and many working men would head straight to the pub after work.  It was thought that this might unduly influence them, as they might be exposed to pressure there from the largely-Tory brewing interests.  Thirdly, on a Sunday, they might be influenced by ministers of the Free Church and they were mostly Liberals.  So Thursday - the day furthest-removed from either of these -was chosen.  Opportunity to vote and fairness would seem to have been the key reasons for choosing Thursdays.