What is first-past-the-post and how are seats awarded?

[Zachary.P]

I’ve been following the ongoing election coverage in my country with a growing sense of confusion. The commentators keep mentioning things like “safe seats,” “vote splitting,” and how the current system might lead to a party winning the popular vote but not forming the government. I realized, somewhat embarrassingly, that while I vote in every election, I don’t actually have a firm grasp on how the specific mechanics of our first-past-the-post system translate votes into seats. I think I need to go back to basics. I’m looking for a genuinely clear, non-partisan resource that offers a straightforward electoral systems explained primer, one that compares different models without pushing an agenda. It feels like essential knowledge that I should have understood a long time ago.