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A general election is an election in which all members of a given political body are up for election. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.
The term originates in the United Kingdom general elections for the House of Commons.
A general election is also a term used in opposition to primary election. In the United States, primary elections serve to narrow down a field of candidates, and general elections actually elect candidates to offices. The general election is usually held on Election Day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
It meets the above definition of "general election" in that the entire United States House of Representatives is elected on Election Day, though not the entire United States Congress. Prior to the 17th Amendment, members of the United States Senate were not directly elected by the people but rather by their state legislature. Though Senators have been directly elected since then, only one-third of them are up for election on any given Election Day.
List of general elections
- Australian federal elections
- Canadian federal elections
- Indian general elections
- Irish general elections
- Japan general election
- Malaysian general election
- Spanish general elections
- South African general elections
- United Kingdom general elections
- Singapore general elections
See also
"General election"