3 electoral systems 3.1-3.3

Question 1

what are the 3 types of electoral systems in the uk?
Explain them

Answer 1

Election in the UK
Electoral system
Party system

election in UK is an opportunity for citizens to cast a vote for their elected representatives as part of liberal and representative democracy.

The electoral system is a process where votes are translated into elected officials or seats.
variety of systems: proportional, plurality, majoritarian

party system is the number of parties that have a real chance of forming goverment

Question 2

name the places of England and there voting system

Answer 2

England uses FPTP every 5 years for general 4 years for local elections.

NL uses STV single transferable vote every 5 years for NL assembly.

Scotland uses the AMS additional member system every 5 years for Scottish Parliament election.

Wales for welsh assembly election every 5 years also uses AMS.

Question 3

what are the advantages of FPTP?

Answer 3

extremist right-wing parties don’t succeed. eg reform 5 seats with 14 percent of votes.

FPTP often leads to a strong government with a clear mandate to carry out its policies because the winning party can win a clear majority.

FPTP provides strong representation in the UK with small constituencies having single MPs representing their interests.

Question 4

disadvantages of FPTP?

Answer 4

The system discriminates against smaller parties like Lib Dem and Reform. Eg reform 14 percent of votes only 5 seats.

FPTP often leads to parties being overrepresented. Eg 1997 labour 63%seats 33%votes 179 seat majority

winning party/candidate does not even require 50 percent of the votes cast. does not need a majority. many votes were wasted.eg marginal constituents.

Question 5

what is AMS?

what are regional msps chosen by?

Answer 5

AMS is an electoral system where voters have two votes: one vote for their constituency representative using FPTP and a second vote for a ‘party list’ in order to elect an ‘additional’ representative.

party list system using d hondt method

Question 6

what happens is ams in scotland?

Answer 6

In the Scottish Parliament elections, 73 members are elected by FPTP, while 56 seats are filled by using list members.

The 56 additional members are allocated to 8 regional seats, and there are 7 additional members per region.

The number of additional members each party gets depends on the proportion of votes they receive in an election.

Question 7

how does AMS effect results?

Answer 7

It is harder to get a majority government typically there will be multiparty governments (coalitions)

Question 8

advantages of AMS?

Answer 8

-Proportional results
The second stage of AMS tries to fix the flaws of fptp.The more seats a party gains in constituency votes the fewer seats they will get in regional areas. Its vote will be divided by larger numbers ensuring fewer wasted votes and more parties being represented.

-Split ticket voting
voters have more choice and can cast 2 votes and have a chance to cast their votes for different parties. encourages more parties to run especially in regional areas.

-Greater representation
as all areas are represented by a constituency or regional representative. There is more chance that voters will have a representative that represents their ideology increasing turnout.

Question 9

disadvantages of AMS?

Answer 9

-More complicated

-An unlikely single party government

-Different types of representation

Question 10

what is STV?

how does STV work?

Answer 10

STV is a proportional voting system used in Northern Ireland

voters have to rank the candidates in order of preference

Question 11

How many regions does Northern Ireland have?

how many representatives are in each region?

why are their multi-member regions?

Answer 11

NL has 18 regions

each region has 6 representatives to send to the NL assembly

there are multi-member regions as the people of Nl need more representations.

Question 12

How does a representative win in Nl assembly?

how to work out droop quota

if candidate goes over droop quota what happens

Answer 12

To win, a candidate needs to achieve the “droop quota.” If they do, they get a seat.

total number of valid votes cast in region + 1/number of seats avaliable in region + 1)+1

if a candidate exceeds the droop quota then those exceeded votes will be distributed to any second preferences

Question 13

why are there coalition governments in Nl?

Answer 13

there are coalition governments in NL as it became a requirement in the good Friday agreement that Nl requires a power-sharing government.

Question 14

How does STV deliver proportional results?

Answer 14

it delivers proportional results as the results have a close correlation between the percentage of the votes cast and the percentage of seats gained.

Question 15

STV advantages?

Answer 15

-results are more proportional

-Voters choice
can choose to vote for different member in the same party

-Greater representation
greater chance someone elected will have same belief as voter increasing turn out

Question 16

STV disadvantages?

Answer 16

-More complicated for voters to understand

-unlikely single-party government
coalition governments weaker

-constituency link
no local representative elected as in FPTP, AMS, and large multi-member constituencies.The link between elected representatives and their local area is weaker.

Question 17

what is ordinal voting?

Answer 17

A votes cast where voters rank candidates in order of preference.

Question 18

what is the supplementary vote?

how does sv work?

Answer 18

it’s a majoritarian system

electors have 2 votes first choice and then the second vote is a supplementary choice

candidates need 50 percent to win if they get 50 percent of first preferences they are elected

if nobody gets 50 percent in first preference then everyone apart from top 2 is eliminated.

then 2nd preference votes are counted.

Question 19

where is SV used in?

Answer 19

SV was used in London mayor elections up until 2022 where is replaced by FPTP.
its used in PCC elections though

Question 20

advantages of SV?

Answer 20

-Majority result
SV ensures winning candidate has a majority

-Extremist parties less successful as you need a majority

-voter choice
voters have more choice as they can pick 2 candidates

Question 21

disadvantages of SV?

Answer 21

-Two-party dominance
result not proportional as all but 2 parties are eliminated if no one gets the majority in first preference.

-false majority
a candidate needs to only gain a majority of the valid vote

-tactical voting
using SV may encourage the tactical use of the second preference

Question 22

what is a referendum?

Answer 22

its a simple yes or no vote given to the public on a single issue.

Question 23

why call a referendum/when do they take place?

Answer 23

-might call a referendum in response to public pressure

-can help to resolve controversial issues dividing a party(Cameron Brexit conservatives)

-agreement between parties( part of coalition agreement lib dems held one for AV)

–can lead to legitimacy to large constitutional changes in the uk

Question 24

explain how Brexit occurred under cameron and why he called an election.

Answer 24

torys defected to UKIP
eg Dougless Carswell
UKIP became very popular and there was a divide inside the conservative party on Brexit.
Cameron did a referendum to try to end the dispute internally.

2015- Cameron promised a referendum if he wins majority

Question 25

what are the advantages for use of referendums

Answer 25

-they encourage participation and education E.G. Scottish independence Brexit enhances democracy.

-they have provided clear results on political issues and they have been successfully implemented E.G. creation of devolved bodies.

It’s an accepted constitutional convention. It provides a way for the public to engage in politics and ensure a responsive government with a mandate to act.

Question 26

disadvantages for the use of referendums?

Answer 26

Low turnout for some elections, e.g., the 42% turnout for the AV referendum, undermines the legitimacy of the decision and the effectiveness of direct democracy.

-Close results can be more decisive than settling issues, as seen in the Brexit and Scottish referendum.

-issues raised are often complex to reduce to a yes or no answer with voters lacking info to make informed decisions.