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Politics Paper 1 > 3.1 Different Electoral Systems > Flashcards

3.1 Different Electoral Systems Flashcards

1
Q

3

Describe the importance of elections

A
  • Democracy
  • Legitimacy
  • Accountability
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2
Q

6

What is the criteria for a successful electoral system?

A
  • Proportionality
  • Stable Govt
  • Voter Choice
  • MP/constituent link
  • Participation
  • Simplicity
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3
Q

What is a plurality electoral system?

A

largest number of votes wins

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4
Q

What is a majoritarian electoral system?

A

majority of votes required to win

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5
Q

9

How does FPTP work in the UK

A
  • 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
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6
Q

6

What are the outcomes of FPTP?

A
  • 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
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7
Q

3

To what extent does FPTP promote democracy?

pros and cons

A

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

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8
Q

1

What did Jess Phillips do in her constituency?

A

She stood outside a school in her Birmingham Yardley constituency to support teachers who taught primary school children about LGBTQ+

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9
Q

6

What happened at the Tiverton and Honiton 2022 by-election?

A
  • triggered by Neil Parish resignation
  • 2019 elec: 41% Con majority
  • 2022: tactical voting
  • Lab: -16%
  • LD: +38%
  • LD victory
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10
Q

4

What are the issues with safe seats

A
  • 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
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11
Q

1

What is ‘political inertia’?

A

resistance to change

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12
Q

7

Describe FPTP in the 2019 elec

A
  • 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)
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13
Q

7

How does AMS work in the UK?

A
  • 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
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14
Q

3

What are the outcomes of AMS?

A
  • 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
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15
Q

4

To what extent does AMS promote democracy?

Pros and cons

A
  • 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

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16
Q

6

How does STV work in the UK?

A
  • 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
17
Q

3

What are the outcomes of STV?

A
  • 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
18
Q

3

To what extent does STV promote democracy?

A
  • 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
19
Q

6

How does SV work in the UK?

A
  • 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
20
Q

3

What are the outcomes of SV?

A
  • 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

21
Q

3

To what extent does SV promote democracy?

A
  • 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)
22
Q

2

What are the terms of the Elections Act 2022

A
  • Introduced voter ID
  • Switched mayoral elections, PC&C elecs from SV to FPTP
23
Q

2

What happened at the 2022 NI election?

A
  • 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
24
Q

6

Describe Ben Houchen

A
  • 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
25
Q

4

Describe the North East devolution deal

A
  • £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
26
Q

4

Describe the results of the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election

A
  • 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
27
Q

1

What are the similarities between FPTP and AMS?

A
  • Both involve MP-constituency link
28
Q

What are the differences in govt formed between FPTP and AMS?

A
  • FPTP: Strong and stable govt
  • AMS: Coalition/minority govts

With exceptions

29
Q

What are the differences in representation between FPTP and AMS?

A

FPTP: Stronger local representation (stronger MP-Constituency link)
AMS: Stronger PR

30
Q

What are the differences in smaller parties’ influence between FPTP and AMS?

A

FPTP: Smaller parties have little influence
AMS: Smaller parties can influence decision making (e.g. LD with Lab in Scot/Wal)

31
Q

What are the differences in MP responsibility between FPTP and AMS?

A

FPTP: All MPs are equal (theoretically)
AMS: More senior representatives take on less constituency responsibilities

32
Q

What are the differences in usage between FPTP and AMS?

A

FPTP: Westminster, mayoral elecs, PC&C
AMS: Scot/Wal devolved, London Assembly

33
Q

3Ps + knock-downs

Evaluate the view that a system of PR should be used for Westminster elections

A

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

34
Q

3

Describe the interesting results of the Cambridge and Peterborough mayoral election 2021 (SV)

A
  • 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
35
Q

Describe the use of AMS in the 2021 London Mayoral election

A

Lab 42% constituency vote, 38% regional vote

‘Split ticket’

36
Q

2

Describe the Lib-Lab pacts in devolved bodies

A
  • Scotland - ‘Partnership Government’ (1999-2007)
  • Wales - (2000-2003)
37
Q

4

Which voting system category does each UK electoral system belong to?

A
  • FPTP - plurality
  • AMS - hybrid/mixed
  • STV - proportional
  • SV - majoritarian
38
Q

3

Describe the government agreement in Wales 2021-24

A
  • ‘Co-operation’ agreement
  • Lab and PC worked together on 46 areas
  • Lab could govern on 30/60 seats, yet needed parliamentary support for budget

Politics Paper 1 (27 decks)

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