Other forms: elections
An election is the day a whole country chooses its leaders. A general election, win the election, election night.
The counting system decides as much as the votes: first past the post produces majorities from minorities of the vote, and proportional systems produce coalitions, which is the oldest argument in electoral politics. Note elect; and that the Latin means to pluck out or choose, the same root as select and elite.
1nounelectionAn occasion when people vote to choose leaders.
“The party lost the election, and its leader resigned the next morning.”
election is a choosing.
Latin electio comes from eligere, to pick out — ex plus legere, to choose. Select, elite and elegant come from the same choosing.
Proto-Indo-European
*leǵ-
Latin
ēlectiōn-
Anglo-Norman
eleccioun
Middle English
eleccioun
English, today
election
Built from
From Middle English eleccioun, eleccion, from Anglo-Norman eleccioun, from Latin ēlectiōn-, stem of ēlectiō (“choice, selection”), from ēligō (“to pluck out, to choose”). Equivalent to elect + -ion. Displaced native Old English cyre (“choice, free will, election”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA