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Barometer

How often has a general election been held on a Monday?

7 September 2019

9:00 AM

7 September 2019

9:00 AM

A Monday poll?

The government was considering a general election on 14 October — a Monday. This raised eyebrows because general elections have been held on Thursdays since 1935. There are various theories about why — that it gives an incoming PM a weekend to form a new government, that it was market day in many towns, that fewer voters would be drunk than at the weekend, that by Thursday churchgoers would have forgotten the previous Sunday’s sermon at parish communion.

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