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Year 9

Elections

I can understand how members of parliament are elected.

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Year 9

Elections

I can understand how members of parliament are elected.

Download all resources
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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. First Past the Post (FPTP) is the name for the electoral system used to elect MPs to Westminster.
  2. The number of MPs a party has in parliament rarely matches their popularity.
  3. Fewer people can vote for a party but they can win more seats.

Keywords

  • First Past the Post - First Past the Post (FPTP) is the name for the electoral system used to elect MPs to Westminster.

Common misconception

Winning an election means receiving over half the vote.

Under the First Past the Post system, a winning candidate must receive more votes than any other candidate. This may not mean receiving over half of the total vote.


To help you plan your year 9 maths lesson on: Elections, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

You may wish to look at the citizenship lessons that consider elections or collaborate with the citizenship department in your school if you want pupils to explore this further.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Calculate 30% of 600
Correct Answer: 180
Q2.
Calculate 45% of 720
Correct Answer: 324
Q3.
Calculate 121% of 923
Correct Answer: 1116.83
Q4.
What percentage of 356 is 89?
Correct Answer: 25%, 25
Q5.
What percentage of 136.25 is 32.7?
Correct Answer: 24%, 24
Q6.
Sofia says 'If I start with a number and reduce it by 100% and then increase the answer by 100% then I will get back to the number I started with.' Is she correct?
Yes - the percentages are the same so the overall value does not change.
Yes - the percentages are the same so the operations cancel each other out.
False - you will end up with 10% of the original amount.
Correct answer: False - you will end up with zero.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
(FPTP) is the name for the electoral system used to elect MPs to Westminster.
Correct Answer: First Past the Post
Q2.
The UK is divided into constituencies.
250
350
450
550
Correct answer: 650
Q3.
There are 400 people voting in an election. There are three candidates and voters can only vote for one of them. What is the smallest number of votes that a candidate could receive and still win?
133
Correct answer: 134
200
400
Q4.
In the FPTP system, it is possible for a candidate to be elected even though more people have voted against them, rather than for them.
Correct answer: True - a candidate wins if they receive more votes than any other candidate.
False - a candidate must have the majority of the votes.
Q5.
Which party won the election?
An image in a quiz
Party A
Party B
Party C
Correct answer: Party D
Q6.
What percentage (to 1 d.p.) of the total vote did Party D receive?
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 25.5%, 25.5