> but have never understood the system of winning seats
It’s very simple. For the purposes of a general election, the United Kingdom is split into 650 constituencies ona. geographical and population basis (each geographical constituency has a similar population, so it could be physically large enough to encompass a large rural area with numerous towns, villages and small cities, or small enough to be a small part of a large city).
Each of those constituencies holds a separate election. Whichever candidate in a given constituency gets the most votes represents that constituency in the House of Commons.
Consequently, a party could win a majority of seats by very narrow margins, and lose the seats they lose by huge margins, and thereby elect more candidates with fewer total votes.
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