I think another difference is that in America, the elections we hear about are those where individual politicians are competing for the office of president.
In this country, it is parties who are competing to form a government with individuals competing to represent a particular constituency.
We don't as yet think of it in terms of two individuals competing for the office of Prime Minister, though T Blair had a good go at trying to make the office of Prime Minister more presidential in style, and the media do their best to reduce it to a battle if personalities rather than a clinical comparison of policies.