In most countries the date of the elections is decided by the political executive, except where the date is permanently fixed (like in the USA). In UK, the decision on the date of elections had been the domain of the Prime Minister since 1715. In 2011, however, the Act was amended to create a fixed term Parliament. It has now been decided to hold the future general elections on 7 May every five years, starting from 7 May 2015.
