Plurality (voting)

In North American English, the term plurality, also called relative majority
used in the context of voting, refers to the largest number of votes to be received by any
candidate (or any proposal in a referendum). It is contrasted with an absolute majority, or
simple majority, which is more than half of the votes. In other words, in an election contested
by more than two candidates, plurality occurs when one candidate receives the most votes but
not necessarily more than half of the votes, while in a majority election a candidate wins if
they receive over half of the votes. When no candidate receives a majority in the first round of
voting, a two-round system or ranked voting system can be used to choose a winner. Systems
allowing plurality election are more vulnerable to corruption using the spoiler effect than
systems which require a majority.

In British English
In UK constituency elections, which typically feature three or more candidates representing
major parties, a plurality is sometimes referred to as a "majority" or a "relative majority"
while the terms "overall majority" or "absolute majority" are used to describe the support of
more than one half of votes cast. The plurality voting system is called first past the post in the
UK.
For example, consider an election where 100 votes are cast for three candidates, with Alice
polling 40 votes, Bob 31, and Carol 29. A Briton might say "Alice won with a majority of 9"
(since Alice polled 9 more votes than her closest competitor), whereas a Canadian would say
"Alice won with a plurality", since the Canadian definition would use the word "majority"
only if Alice had polled more than all her competitors combined.