27.) Issues and Debates with Electoral Systems

Question 1

What are some factors used to assess how good electoral systems are?

Answer 1

-Proportionality: Does the vote share for a party match the number of seats that party receives?
-Vote value: Do voters feel like have a voice? I.E safe seats
-Promoting participation: Does a electoral system encourage voters to come out and vote
-Strong and accountable government: Do voters think they can punish/reward the PM properly at election time?
-Local links: Are MPs accountable to their communities?
-Party power: Can voters choose from candidates within a party? To avoid having the main party make all decisions on who represents them
-Party choice: Does the electoral system prioritise large parties or many smaller ones?
-Comprehensive: Easily understood by the public

Question 2

What’s the closest a party has achieved to 50% of the vote in a British election and under what system?

Answer 2

FPTP - 49.7% Tories 1955 election

Question 3

Name an UK electoral reform pressure group?

Answer 3

Make Votes Matter

Question 4

Why do few Labour or Tory MPs support a change in the voting system?

Answer 4

As proportional voting systems typically lead to coalition governments

Question 5

How can non-proportional voting systems affect voting behaviour?

Answer 5

A person may not vote at all for their preferred choice, and instead tactically for the “least worst” option

Question 6

What are the election systems used in UK elections?

Answer 6

FPTP - English local and UK General Elections
-Party List Proportionate Representation - EU elections (until JAN 2020 and Brexit)
-Additional Member System (AMS) - Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections
-Single Transferable Vote (STV) - NI Assembly and Scottish local council elections
-Alternative Vote (AV) - Parliamentary Select Committee chairs

Question 7

What can be deduced from the results of the 2019 General Election if the results are looked at using a variety of electoral systems?

Answer 7

-Only FPTP would produce a Tory majority (As happened in reality)
-Tories and SNP would gain less votes under alternative voting systems
-LibDems would benefit most from electoral reform
-Smaller parties (Brexit and Greens) would fare best under AMS out of all systems

Question 8

What is FPTP?

Answer 8

The candidate with the largest number of votes in a constituency wins the seat

Question 9

What does this mean?

Answer 9

A party can have large numbers of votes but no seats - UKIP 2015, 3.8 million votes and 1 seat

Question 10

What is Party List proportional representation?

Answer 10

MPs are elected as a group in large constituencies

Question 11

Give an example of party list proportional representation?

Answer 11

MEP elections in the UK (except NI) - GB divided into 11 large regions which elected between 3 and 10 MEPs

Question 12

How does the party list proportional representation method work?

Answer 12

Seats are allocated in rounds, with one allocated each round, each party’s votes are divided by the number of seats they’ve won plus one, with the seat being given to whoever has the highest number of votes at the end of each round

Question 13

Where is Additional Member System used? (AMS)

Answer 13

Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections and London Assembly elections

Question 14

How does AMS work?

Answer 14

There are two ballots - the first being a list of candidates standing for their constituencies, and the second ballot is a list of parties, standing in the region which the vote is taking place in (8 regions for Scotland for example)

Question 15

How many MSPs are voted for using AMS in Scotland?

Answer 15

73 using FPTP first ballot and 56 from the second regional proportional list

Question 16

How are seats using AMS calculated?

Answer 16

-1st ballot is FPTP
-2nd ballot is calculated using proportional share of votes
-If a party wins less seats than their vote percentage, they are given seats from the regional list to make up the difference until their percentage matches the seats

Question 17

Where is Single Transferable Vote (STV) used?

Answer 17

NI Assembly and Scottish local council elections

Question 18

How does STV work?

Answer 18

Voters rank their choices in order of preference in multi member constituencies, and any who have more votes than the initial quota (based on number of seats up for grabs) are immediately elected, if there’s more candidates than seats any further votes past the quota for the initial winning candidates are given in proportion to the remaining candidates’, with the candidate receiving the least votes eliminated until all seats are filled

Question 19

What is alternative vote?

Answer 19

Voters number their candidates in order of preference, voting for just one candidate, if a candidate receives 50%+ they’re elected, if not the last candidate is eliminated with their second preference votes added to the remaining candidates, this repeats until a candidate gets over 50%

Question 20

Where is alternative vote used?

Answer 20

Electing chairs of Parliamentary select committees

Question 21

Evaluate proportionality of electoral systems?

Answer 21

-FPTP: Seats won don’t correlate to vote percentage E.G 2019 Tories winning 77 more seats than percentage, rarely largest party vote doesn’t mean most seats (1951, 1974)
-List PR: this is a proportionate system, as seen by the Brexit party winning 39% of the vote and four seats in an MEP election
-AMS: As seen in West Lothian election is fair - with Tories within 4/16 seats on 24% vote share and Greens winning 2 seats on 11% vote share
-STV: Proportionate, advocated for by vote reform groups like Electoral Reform Society
-Alternative Vote: Not proportionate, never used in nat or regional elections, if used in 2017, would’ve led to fewer votes for LibDems and nationalist parties, does however ensure MPs have majority of constituents voting in favour of them (229/650 in 2019 elected with less than 50% support)

Question 22

Evaluate vote value of electoral systems?

Answer 22

-FPTP: Many wasted votes, E.G 2019 Brexit Party 644,257 votes with no MPs, argued to be biased to concentrated parties and Lab/Con
-List PR: Less votes wasted, wider range of parties getting seats but due to country being divided by regions some small parties can still get up to 5% of the vote and no seats
-AMS: Less votes wasted, Scottish Greens gained two seats from regional list, same issue List PR has with smallest parties
-STV: Preferential voting reduces wasted votes, minor party votes can still influence because first preference votes are redistributed if party eliminated on second preference basis
-AV: No discentive to vote for minor party, if preferred party eliminated, their first preference is redistributed to second preference

Question 23

Evaluate participation and turnout of electoral systems?

Answer 23

-FPTP: discourages participation from smaller party supporters, on other hand, election turnout isn’t falling (2010: 65.1%, 2015: 66.2% 2017: 68.8% and 2019: 67.3%)
-List PR: European elections using this system have incredibly low turnout, (2019: 36.9%) however this can be argued to reflect interest in those elections, not the fault of the electoral system
-AMS: No proof AMS boosts turnout: 2019 Welsh Senedd election turnout (45%) this might be due to electoral disinterest though
-STV: European elections had low turnout (45%) in NI, which is higher than UK, but NI has always had a higher turnout than average
-AV: No wasted votes, but due to no countries using AV it can’t be proven if it would encourage participation

Question 24

Evaluate strength and accountability of governments depending on electoral system?

Answer 24

-FPTP: normally clear and decisive governments, with strong majorities (1979-2010), rare hung parliaments (Feb 1974, 2010, 2017) could be questioned if strong governments instead of compromise is what’s needed
-List PR: Governments with no party majority typical (I.E Brexit Party 29/73 MEPs - largest party) causes coalitions mostly with smaller parties acting as kingmakers, some would argue that’s better than single party governments
-AMS: minority governments typical, but in Scotland and Wales this hasn’t led to instability or deadlock
-STV: All members represented by MOs across various regions, does mean MP represents extremely large area to manage though
-AV: Retains single party constituents with majority

Question 25

Evaluate local links of governments depending on electoral system?

Answer 25

-FPTP: each constituency has their own MP who represent their local interests
-List PR: due to regions, MPs wouldn’t serve constituents as much as FPTP
-AMS: local link present unlike list PR but creates two-tier system, those elected directly and those elected by regional top up without a mandate
-STV: all MPs representative a specific area, and all constituents can visit their MPs, however it does mean MPs under this system have a much larger geographical area
-AV: Retains single MP constituents who represents all constituents

Question 26

Evaluate party power under various electoral systems?

Answer 26

-FPTP: Doesn’t allow voters to pick intra-party candidates however since candidates are picked by local party membership from central committee lists it means central parties have less power than List PR etc
-List PR: large amount of power given to central party. Closed party lists are used to rank candidates internally - guaranteeing those with a high ranking to be elected, party power could be reduced by moving to an open list system - where voters rank party candidates
-AMS: Regional lists give power to central party committees, however constituencies mean that local party members do have a hand in picking party candidates too
-STV: Can choose from individual candidates from the same party if the constituency is large enough
-AV: Candidates chosen by local activists like FPTP

Question 27

Evaluate party choice and representation under various electoral systems?

Answer 27

-FPTP: Discriminates against smaller parties, but they are represented in Parliament and there’s no evidence smaller parties don’t stand candidates in elections
-List PR: Helps wider amount of candidates get elected E.G 2009 MEP election, two BNP candidates elected, smaller parties fare better in MEP elections
-AMS: More range than FPTP, yet range of parties in devolved assemblies small
-STV: Greater incentive for minor and independent parties so vote isn’t wasted, E.G ROI (19/160 elected were independent)
-AV: candidates favoured with broad appeal/least worst - populist candidates under 50% support of vote likely to be unelectable - 2017 election LibDems projected to favour worst under AV if it was used in that election

Question 28

Evaluate comprehensibility and transparency under various electoral systems?

Answer 28

-FPTP: Scores highly, easy to understand and delivers quick results
-List PR: Cumbersome, because of multiple voting rounds, argued to provide fairer result though
-AMS: More complex than FPTP, requiring two ballots, only has one round though and is straight forward to count
-STV: Not straight forward, can take a while to get results E.G ROI election taking two days to get result
-AV: Relatively understood, one MP per constituency

Question 29

Give reasons why FPTP should be replaced in Westminster elections?

Answer 29

-List PR or STV would reflect votes better, FPTP distorts vote (winner’s bonus, landslides)
-UK only European country to use FPTP
-Party with most votes doesn’t always get most seats (Feb 1974)
-Doesn’t always result in strong majority govs (2017)
-Discriminates against smaller parties
-Parties can be voted in on low vote share: E.G 37% vote Tories, 2015
-Many wasted votes
-Encourages tactical voting
-Many MPs elected without majority of constituents supporting

Question 30

Give reasons why FPTP shouldn’t be replaced?

Answer 30

-Normally makes strong and stable governments, which are accountable at next election
-Easily understood
-Strong link between MPs and constituents
-Strong single party govs don’t need to make deals to stay in power, which may weaken manifesto promises
-Alternative systems don’t have flaws
-Small, extreme parties kept out of government
-It’s used in USA, most significant democracy in the world
-Two party system means those parties must have broad appeal, with wide range of views
-Straight forward to count the votes and get quick results