3.3 Electoral systems Flashcards
impact of uk electoral systems on government
impact of uk electoral systems on government
- ams has created strong, stable, single party governments
- wales/scotland have been able to legislate themselves because of the Wales and Scotland Acts
- scotland/wales have experienced both coalition and majority governments by using a proportional system
Impact on parties and party systems
nationalist parties
have been able to gain influence under proportional systems
Impact on parties and party systems
could be argued small parties are…
overrepresented.
eg. Labour won 46 seats in the 2007 election. the SNP won 46 and Green won 2. The SNP and Green were able to form a coalition government, does this give them too much power? ) i dont think so)
impact on parties and party systems
success of small parties
2015: SNP won 56 seats, replacing labour as the dominant party in scotland
and, UKIPs success in 2015 is undeniable
impact on parties and party systems
2017 + 2019 - conservatives and labour
won 82% of the vote between them.
Impact on voters + voters choice
impact on voters/voters choice (good)
- different electoral systems improve the turnout and are more proportional
- in multi member constituencies (STV NORTHERN IRELAND) voters have a choice of representatives they can lobby to get their voices heard
- other systems have great choice - SV has 2 preferences, STV has ordinal voting, AMS has split ticket voting
Impact on voters + voters choice
Impact on voters + voters choice (bad)
- in many devolved bodies the turnout has been lower than the UK general election
- perhaps due to complexity, or reduced importance of devolved bodies
- its unclear whether lower turnout is down to the electoral system or political disillusionment though