When is the next general election going to be

A.� Political analysts predict that the next general election will fall on 3 May 2001. Their calculations are based the government's scheduling of the budget and various other voter-grabbing initiatives, such as the 10% increase in the minimum wage. However, with the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in British farms that has lead to travel restrictions across the country, there is some speculation that the election may be postponed until June or October 2001.

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Q.� Is the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth expected to lead to a postponement of the election
A.� Although various ministers have hinted at a possible postponement of the general election until the foot-and-mouth epidemic has been controlled, there is no official indication that this will be the case. It is true that the government has tried to restrict travel around the country, however, with new voting laws that have made postal voting easier, people in the disease-affected areas of the country could still participate in�an election without threatening the spread of the disease.�

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Q.� How much time does Tony Blair have to call the next election
A.� The next general election must take place before June 2002. Up until this time, the date of the election is purely the Prime Minister's prerogative. Based on previous examples, a government is wise to call an election approximately 12 months before the expiration date, at a point when the opinion polls are balanced in their favour. However, if a government chooses to hold out until nearer the expiration date, it runs the risk of leaving itself little room to recover from any unexpected crises or scandal. According to UK law, the incumbent Prime Minister can officially call an election up to 3 weeks before the chosen polling date.� This means that Mr Blair has until the first week in April to call the expected May general election.

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Q.� Are there any clues as to which party will win the next election
A.� Virtually all the major election forecasters have placed the Labour party in the lead in the opinion polls. Though the party's 'popularity' seems to be slowly wavering, there is little doubt that Mr Blair and his colleagues will secure a second term in office, if the election takes place this May. According to an opinion poll carried out in February by a leading political monitor, the UK Election Forecasting Programme, Labour is leading the polls with 431 votes of the 1,000 people polled. The Conservative party came second with 162 votes, and the Liberal Democrats, third with 37 votes.

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Q.� How many political parties will be running in the next general election
A.� The exact figure for how many parties will be running in the upcoming election will not be known until Mr Blair announces his chosen date for the election, thus setting the election campaigns in motion. However, in the general election of 1997, 22 parties took part in the campaign, and this figure is expected to remain virtually the same for the 2001 polls. Other than the three major parties - Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats - some other parties expected to run include, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Natural Law Party, the Christian Democrat Party and the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

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Q.� How much is each party allowed to spend on its general election campaign
A.� Recently imposed restrictions have limited the amount that a political party can spend on its election campaign. In order to make the democratic process more fair the independent monitoring body called the Electoral Commission has barred any political party from spending more than �19.77 million on its general election campaign. The recently imposed Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act also requires all political parties to publish the names of any donors who have given more than �5,000 to the party.

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B y Christina Okoli