General Election 2017: Your top five questions answered
What are those burning election questions the nation is asking? We bring you the top five Google queries - and answer them.
Tuesday 25 April 2017 11:52, UK
In the wake of the announcement there would be a snap vote, the top election question on Google was, wait for it... "What is a General Election?"
Here are the top five search engine queries that came after the Prime Minister's announcement there would be a vote on 8 June - with the answers, of course!
1) What is a general election?
It is when the general public decides who should run the country.
They do this by voting for a Member of Parliament from a particular political party to represent their area in the House of Commons.
There are 650 areas, called constituencies.
The political party with the most MPs gets to run the country. Officially the Queen asks that party's leader to form a government.
2) When was the last general election?
Thursday, 7 May 2015.
David Cameron (Conservatives) won, Ed Miliband (Labour) didn't.
3) What is a snap election?
It's when a prime minister calls a general election when one isn't due.
In this case, the UK wasn't due an election until May 2020.
Under the Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011 a General Election is held every five years on the first Thursday in May.
However, if two-thirds of MPs vote in favour of an early election or a vote of no confidence is passed and no new Government can be formed then there can been a poll.
In this case 522 MPs voted in favour of an early election - so there will be one. It's on Thursday, 8 June.
4) Why has Theresa May called an election?
So she can get stuff she wants to get done, done. Mainly Brexit.
The Conservatives (then under David Cameron) won in 2015, but only by getting only a few more MPs than the other parties put together.
They currently have 17 more MPs, this number is referred to as a "majority".
This makes it harder to get things done as it only takes 17 Conservatives to vote with the other parties against the Prime Minister to stop her doing what she wants.
As the party is split on the approach to Brexit, there's plenty of scope for Conservative MPs to join forces with the other parties and vote against EU exit measures - either because they are too tough, or too soft.
All the polls show Mrs May could win a majority of more than 100 and this would mean she would be able to win votes in the House of Commons.
She had said there would not be an early vote but now says she has changed her mind because the other parties made clear they would "frustrate the Brexit process".
Mrs May said it was in the "national interest" for her to go to the polls to get permission from the electorate for her to carry out their instructions to leave the EU.
5) Who can vote in a general election?
Anyone who is 18 or over on election day. You can check whether you are registered to vote on the Electoral Commission website .
You can register to vote on the Government website .