When coming in 2nd is good enough
The Conservative lead was in double figures late last year but has been narrowing in recent surveys. That increasingly points to a hung parliament in which no party wins an outright majority.
Labour needs a smaller percentage of the national vote than the Conservatives to win an overall parliamentary majority because its vote is concentrated in urban areas, which cover more constituencies.
The reverse process can produce a similar result in a United States presidential election.
Most recently, Democrat Al Gore won the most votes nationwide in 2000, but George W. Bush became president because each state is worth a certain number of "electoral votes" based on the number of representatives it has in Congress. That gives rural states a little extra clout.
Reuters-China Daily
(China Daily 03/03/2010 page12)
