3.1 Different Electoral Systems Flashcards
3
Describe the importance of elections
- Democracy
- Legitimacy
- Accountability
6
What is the criteria for a successful electoral system?
- Proportionality
- Stable Govt
- Voter Choice
- MP/constituent link
- Participation
- Simplicity
What is a plurality electoral system?
largest number of votes wins
What is a majoritarian electoral system?
majority of votes required to win
9
How does FPTP work in the UK
- Used in GEs, mayoral, PC&C commissioners
- 650 constituencies - circa 70,000 population per seat
- Boundary review - boundary commission recommend boundary changes every 5 years
- elect single member
- ‘one person, one vote’
- one candidate per party
- £500 deposit - returned if 5% of votes achieved
- Plurality electoral system
- Not proportional
6
What are the outcomes of FPTP?
- Two party dominance
- landslide effect (1983, 1997) or ‘clear winner’
- stable government
- unfair on minority parties
- safe seats - tactical voting
- ‘winner’s bonus’ - winner recieves higher proportion of seats than votes
3
To what extent does FPTP promote democracy?
pros and cons
P1: Overall outcome of seats not proportional - e.g. LD 2019 (2% seats vs 12% vote) and UKIP (0.2% seats vs 13% vote) vs Prevents extremist parties - BNP 2009 European Elections (2 seats)
P2: Safe seats lead to wasted votes - democratic deficit e.g. Tiverton 2022 by-election of Lib Dems vs Constituency-MP link - strong local accountability e.g. Jess Phillips
P3: Winner’s bonus vs Typically single clear winner (though no guarantee) - forms strong and stable majority govt e.g. 2019 Con 80 seat
1
What did Jess Phillips do in her constituency?
She stood outside a school in her Birmingham Yardley constituency to support teachers who taught primary school children about LGBTQ+
6
What happened at the Tiverton and Honiton 2022 by-election?
- triggered by Neil Parish resignation
- 2019 elec: 41% Con majority
- 2022: tactical voting
- Lab: -16%
- LD: +38%
- LD victory
4
What are the issues with safe seats
- wasted votes - voter apathy and democratic deficit
- ‘party heartlands’ - little possibility of realistic challenge from other party
- ‘electoral desserts’ - effectively no party challenge
- votes are unequal - parties tailor policies to marginal seats - 2022, scrapped housebuilding targets of 300k homes a year in England
1
What is ‘political inertia’?
resistance to change
7
Describe FPTP in the 2019 elec
- Winner’s bonus:
- UK: Conservatives - 44% votes vs 56% seats
- Scotland: SNP - 45% votes vs 81% seats
- Clear majority for effective and stable Conservative govt + strong opposition
- Con/Lab collectively realised 568/650 seats
- Minor parties - brexit party 2% of votes (13 seats in PR), yet won no seats
- Safe seats - Liverpool Walton: Lab’s Dan Carden won 85% of votes (30,000 majority)
7
How does AMS work in the UK?
- Used in Scottish Parliament, Welsh Parliament (Senedd) and London Assembly
- Hybrid (mixed) system - FPTP/List (PR) i.e. partly proportional
- Two votes: one vote for FPTP candidate and one vote for closed party list (CPL)
- ‘Top up’ seats are awarded to parties in proportion to the 2nd vote cast for them
- Scotland: 129 MSPs - 73 constituencies, 56 regional list
- Wales: 60 AMs - 40 constituencies, 20 regional list
- ‘top up’ system calculated using D’Hondt formula
3
What are the outcomes of AMS?
- Approx proportional
- Produces one-party minority/two-party coalition govts (exception in Scotland 2011) - generally stable
- Minority of voters ‘split their ticket’ by voting for diff parties in constituency and list part
4
To what extent does AMS promote democracy?
Pros and cons
- Approx proportional (e.g. Senedd 2021 elec: Con 27% seats, 26% votes) vs more likely to result in minority govts (Bute House agreement ended)
- Greater voter choice - split vote (London 2021: Lab 42% constituency vote, 38% regional vote) vs more complex - lower participation (2021 Senedd: 46% turnout)
- Member-constituency link retained (e.g. Humza Yousef MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Swinney MSP for Perthshire North) vs two classes of representative: senior party members on closed party list (CPL) (e.g. Scottish Lab leader Anas Sarwar represents Glasgow electoral region, not constituency)
- small parties have greater chance (e.g. Scottish Greens) vs extremist parties
re-order where applicable
6
How does STV work in the UK?
- Used in NI/Scottish local elections
- Form of PR
- Rank candiates - ordinal voting (1, 2, 3, etc)
- Canidates must reach ‘droop quota’ - surplus votes redistributed
- Can transfer vote to another candidate to 2nd or further competing candidate (according to voter’s stated order of preference) if the candidate of first choice is eliminated
- NI: 15 multi-member constituencies, 6 MLAs each
3
What are the outcomes of STV?
- Multi-party system - prevents dominance
- Coalitions (power-sharing in NI) - can result in deadlock (e.g. DUP stand-off since Feb 2022)
- Broken representative-constituency link
3
To what extent does STV promote democracy?
- Proportionality (e.g. 2022 NI elec: UUP 11% seats AND votes) vs multi-party deadlock (e.g. DUP refuse to return to Stormont)
- Greater voter choice (e.g. Alliance Party rise - 3rd 2022) vs complexity in calculations - diff to understand - lower participation (55% turnout 2016)
- Greater constituency representation - 6 MLAs from diff parties vs broken representative-constituency link - no clear rep
6
How does SV work in the UK?
- Majoritarian system
- English elected mayors, PC&C (pre-new legislation)
- Elects single candidate
- Voters have 2 choices: 1st and 2nd
- if 1st choice eliminated after two-candidate run off, 2nd choice preferences transferred
- Candidates need 50%+1 to win
3
What are the outcomes of SV?
- Fewer wasted votes (2 choices)
- Two-horse race (Con/Lab)
- informal alliances (e.g. Sadiq Khan ULEZ expansion appeases Green voters)
more likely to vote for smaller parties
3
To what extent does SV promote democracy?
- Legitimacy - single mandate (London 2021: Sadiq Khan won 55% with second-preference) vs low turnout - unfavoured candidate claims majority (2021 Tees Valley mayoral elec: 34% turnout)
- Greater voter choice (London 2021: 20 candidates) vs two-party dominance (all mayors are red/blue)
- Relative simplicity (bar FPTP) - inc participation (e.g. 2021 Greater Manchester turnout was 6% higher than 2016 - ‘King of the North’) vs encourages ‘joke’ candidates - ‘joke’ first choice, pragmatic second choice (London 2021: Niko Omilano finished 5th)
2
What are the terms of the Elections Act 2022
- Introduced voter ID
- Switched mayoral elections, PC&C elecs from SV to FPTP
2
What happened at the 2022 NI election?
- SF gain more seats than DUP for first time ever - Michelle O’Neill wins right to become first nationalist First Minister
- Yet unionist parties won greater share of first preference vote than nationalist parties due to split in vote - media spin
6
Describe Ben Houchen
- Conservative
- Mayor of Tees Valley
- Trad Lab area
- Policies: freeport, nationalised teesside airport
- Won 2021 mayoral election with 1st choice with 73% (so no need for 2nd vote) - low turnout of 34%
- up from 39.5% support on first ballot in 2017
4
Describe the North East devolution deal
- £1.4bn devolution deal for next 30 years (levelling up)
- Elections to take place in 2024
- Greater powers for adult education budget and greater say over local skills improvement
- North East mayor to replace North of Tyne mayor, taking in areas like South Tyneside, Durham, Gateshead
4
Describe the results of the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election
- SNP reach 64 seats (1 short of majority) - Ash Regan defection
- Scottish Greens reach 8 seats (+1) - Bute House agreement
- Constituency results: SNP 62, Con 5
- regional CPL: SNP 2, Con 26
1
What are the similarities between FPTP and AMS?
- Both involve MP-constituency link
What are the differences in govt formed between FPTP and AMS?
- FPTP: Strong and stable govt
- AMS: Coalition/minority govts
With exceptions
What are the differences in representation between FPTP and AMS?
FPTP: Stronger local representation (stronger MP-Constituency link)
AMS: Stronger PR
What are the differences in smaller parties’ influence between FPTP and AMS?
FPTP: Smaller parties have little influence
AMS: Smaller parties can influence decision making (e.g. LD with Lab in Scot/Wal)
What are the differences in MP responsibility between FPTP and AMS?
FPTP: All MPs are equal (theoretically)
AMS: More senior representatives take on less constituency responsibilities
What are the differences in usage between FPTP and AMS?
FPTP: Westminster, mayoral elecs, PC&C
AMS: Scot/Wal devolved, London Assembly
3Ps + knock-downs
Evaluate the view that a system of PR should be used for Westminster elections
P1: Smaller party representation e.g. UKIP (1 seat, 12.5%) vs clear winner - stronger mandate e.g. 2019 - Con 80 seat majority
knock down: hung parliaments
P2: Greater Voter Choice e.g. STV (NI - DUP 1st, UUP 2nd, etc) vs extremist parties e.g. BNP 2 seats, 2009 European elec - not in FPTP
Knock down: extremist = rare
P3: Safe seats- electoral desserts - dem deficit e.g. Hexham since 1922 vs MP-Constituency link - local accountability e.g. Jess Phillips
knock down: link weakened by size of majority - main arg stronger
3
Describe the interesting results of the Cambridge and Peterborough mayoral election 2021 (SV)
- 1st round: Nik Johnson (Lab) 33%, James Palmer (Con) 41%
- 2nd round: Nik Johnson 51%, James Palmer 49%
- Nik Johnson (Lab) elected despite falling 8% behind and coming 2nd on first round
Describe the use of AMS in the 2021 London Mayoral election
Lab 42% constituency vote, 38% regional vote
‘Split ticket’
2
Describe the Lib-Lab pacts in devolved bodies
- Scotland - ‘Partnership Government’ (1999-2007)
- Wales - (2000-2003)
4
Which voting system category does each UK electoral system belong to?
- FPTP - plurality
- AMS - hybrid/mixed
- STV - proportional
- SV - majoritarian
3
Describe the government agreement in Wales 2021-24
- ‘Co-operation’ agreement
- Lab and PC worked together on 46 areas
- Lab could govern on 30/60 seats, yet needed parliamentary support for budget
