Why does Britain always hold elections on Thursday?

(Baonghean.vn)- British voters will go to the polls on June 8 in an early parliamentary election called by Prime Minister Theresa May last April. So why did the “foggy country” choose Thursday as the voting day?

British Prime Minister Theresa May will vote today. Photo: AP

There are many election myths around the world - for example, the US holds its presidential election on the first Tuesday after November 1, while in France it is always a Sunday.

In the UK, voters always go to the polls on Thursdays. To explain this, we have to go back to the 1930s. Election expert Ian McAllister from Australia said the traditional reason for holding elections on Thursdays was because it was market day.

“Back in the 19th century, Thursday was market day. That’s when most of the people would gather. On this day, everyone from everywhere would gather in town, so it was an obvious day to hold elections,” he said.

Some theories suggest that Thursday was chosen to avoid church holidays, which would keep people from being swayed by sermons that might influence their voting mood. Another theory suggests that Thursday was chosen to avoid payday, which is usually Friday, when people would gather in pubs to celebrate.

Some 46.9 million British voters are registered to vote at more than 40,000 polling stations in the snap election. Photo: Getty

McAllister also put forward another hypothesis: “A vote on Thursday means you get the result late that night, and the new government will be inaugurated on Friday, which gives the new government the opportunity to appoint members, the Prime Minister can move into 10 Downing Street, if the current Prime Minister loses his job, Friday is the day to move out of the Prime Minister's office, and everything will be ready by 9am on Monday, starting a normal working week.”

Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on June 8 so people can go to work as usual. However, voting on Thursday will result in a lower turnout than on weekends./.

Lan Ha

(According to ABC)