By-Election and Special Election and Wiki

Question

By the way, I have one more question from this article.

Strictly speaking, is the idea that the word by-election is mainly spoken in the U.K and the word special election is mainly used in the U.S not necessarily a "fixed" idea? Because the Wiki of these words says,

By-elections, also spelled bye-elections (Ireland only) (known as special elections in the United States and the Philippines, and bypolls in India),

By-elections are held in most nations that elect their parliaments through single-member constituencies, whether with or without a runoff round. This includes most Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Pakistan, as well as non-Commonwealth countries such as France.[3] In the UK a writ for a by-election must be issued within three months of a vacancy arising.[4]

But the writer is using these 2 terms randomly sometimes calling the election as by-election and sometime as special election.

I know this is not a so important question, but would by any chance the description of the Wiki be probably not necessarily universal?

Answer 1

When a vacancy happens in the UK parliament then a by-election is held to fill the vacancy. Both Brits and Americans call the elections to fill vacancies in Parliament "By-elections".

When a vacancy happens in the US House of Congress then a special election is held to fill the vacancy. Both Brits and Americans call the elections to fill vacancies in Congress "Special elections".

Of course Americans are much more likely to talk about American Elections than British ones. And many Americans will not know that a different word is used for elections to Parliament, and so will make a mistake. This is not a matter of British or American dialect, but it is the local name for a particular thing.

In Wikipedia, which was written by multiple editors, there may well be inconsistencies. But when referring to elections in the USA the term "Special election" should be used, and when referring to elections in the UK "By-election" should be used.

For elections to fill vacancies in other countries, such as France or Japan, there will be variation. Both "by-election" and "special election" are possible.