C1- Electoral Systems

Question 1

What is an electoral system?

Answer 1

How votes are translated into representation.

Question 2

What is a mandate?

Answer 2

The ability of a government to claim authority.

Question 3

What is legitimacy?

Answer 3

A political party’s rightfulness and acceptance of power and authority.

Question 4

Where are different electoral systems used in the UK?

Answer 4

FPTP- UK general elections
AMS- Scottish and Welsh parliament elections
STV- Northern Ireland Assembly elections
SV- London mayoral elections (formerly)

Question 5

What is a majoritarian electoral system?

Answer 5

A system in which candidates have to receive a majority (50%+) of the votes to be elected.

Question 6

What is a plurality electoral system?

Answer 6

A system in which the candidate with the highest number of votes wins, with no need ti get a majority of votes.

Question 7

What is a proportional electoral system?

Answer 7

A system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of votes cast for each party.

Question 8

What are the purposes of elections?

Answer 8

Hold the current elected representatives to account.
Choosing an elected representative and government.
Legitimising political power.

Question 9

What is a constituency?

Answer 9

Local areas which the country is divided into and represented by an MP.

Question 10

How many constituencies are there in the UK?

Answer 10

650

Question 11

How many MPs represents each constituency?

Answer 11

1

Question 12

How many voters are there in each constituency?

Answer 12

60,000 to 80,000

Question 13

Who does each candidate on the ballot paper represent?

Answer 13

A political party.

Question 14

How many candidates do voters get to choose from?

Answer 14

1

Question 15

How many seats are needed for an absolute majority in the House of Commons?

Answer 15

326

Question 16

What is a hung parliament?

Answer 16

When no party wins a majority of the seats in the House of Commons.

Question 17

What types of government may be formed following a hung parliament?

Answer 17

Coalition, Minority with a confidence and supply deal

Question 18

What type of system in FPTP?

Answer 18

Single member, simple plurality system.

Question 19

How does FPTP work at the constituency level?

Answer 19

The UK is divided up into 650 constituencies with around 70,000 voters each. Each constituency elects 1 MP. To win the constituency seat a candidate must win at least one vote more than their nearest rival.

Question 20

How does FPTP work on a national level?

Answer 20

Winning candidates for each constituency take their seats in the house of commons. The party with the most seats usually forms the government if they have a majority of the seats. If not then a coalition or minority government will be formed.

Question 21

What are the 4 main effects of FPTP?

Answer 21

Two-party system
Winner’s bonus
Strong, single-party government
Safe and swing seats

Question 22

What are 6 strengths of FPTP?

Answer 22

Simplicity; quick and easy to use… quick and easy to get results
Produces strong and stable governments with a clear mandate
Make it easy for the public to hold the government account
Provides a strong MP-constituency link
Leads to centrist policies/keeps out extremist parties
A decisive majority of the public backed maintaining FPTP in a referendum in 2011

Question 23

What are 7 weaknesses of FPTP?

Answer 23

Lack of voter choice, leading to tactical voting
Unequal vote value, involving wasted votes
Most constituency MPs have not won a majority of votes
Simply unfair to smaller parties and leads to disproportional results
Exaggerates regional differences
Is delivering a weak/non-existent government majority with weak mandates
Leads to low turnout and therefore weak mandates for governments

Question 24

What type of system is AMS?

Answer 24

Proportional/hybrid

Question 25

How many votes do voters get?

Answer 25

2- a constituency vote and a regional vote

Question 26

How many seats are there in the Scottish parliament?

Answer 26

129

Question 27

How many seats does a party need to command a majority?

Answer 27

65

Question 28

How many MSPs are elected via the constituency vote?

Answer 28

73

Question 29

What system is used to elect the constituency MSPs?

Answer 29

FPTP

Question 30

How many candidates are elected via the constituency element?

Answer 30

1

Question 31

How many votes does a candidate need to win a constituency?

Answer 31

A plurality

Question 32

How many MSPs are elected via the regional list?

Answer 32

56

Question 33

How many regions does Scotland have?

Answer 33

8

Question 34

What do people vote for in the regional list element?

Answer 34

A party

Question 35

What calculation is used to calculate the number of candidates are elected for each party in the regional list?

Answer 35

The d'Hondt formula

Question 36

What is the purpose of having the regional list element and the constituency element?

Answer 36

More diverse parliament More proportional election result

Question 37

2021 Scottish parliament election turnout

Answer 37

63%

Question 38

SNP result in the 2021 Scottish parliament election

Answer 38

44% of the vote 49% of seats

Question 39

Conservative result in the 2021 Scottish parliament election

Answer 39

23% of the vote 24% of seats

Question 40

Labour result in the 2021 Scottish parliament election

Answer 40

20% of the vote 17% of the seats

Question 41

Greens result in the 2021 Scottish parliament election

Answer 41

5% of the vote 6% of the seats

Question 42

Liberal Democrat result in the 2021 Scottish parliament election

Answer 42

6% of the vote 3% of seat

Question 43

4 Strengths of AMS

Answer 43

Proportional result Split-ticket voting A government elected has broad popularity and increased legitimacy Great representation of parties

Question 44

5 Weaknesses of AMS

Answer 44

More complicated system Coalitions are much more likely Constituency element has all the same issues that FPTP has Different types of representatives Party has control over the candidates on party lists

Question 45

Are constituencies under STV single-member or multi-member?

Answer 45

Multi-member

Question 46

What are voters able to do on the ballot papers under STV?

Answer 46

Rank the candidates

Question 47

What calculation in used to elect the candidates with each constituency?

Answer 47

Use a droop quote. Any candidate beyond this droop quota is elected. If not enough candidates are above the droop quota then the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed. This process continues until all the places are filled by elected candidates.

Question 48

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election turnout

Answer 48

63.6%

Question 49

Sinn Fein result in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Answer 49

29% of first preference votes 30% of seats

Question 50

DUP result in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Answer 50

21% of first preference votes 28% of seats

Question 51

SDLP result in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Answer 51

9% of first preference votes 9% of seats

Question 52

UUP result in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Answer 52

11% of first preference votes 10% of seats

Question 53

Alliance result in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

Answer 53

13.5% of first preference votes 19% of seats

Question 54

6 strengths of STV

Answer 54

Proportional results Enhanced voter choice due to the ranking mechanism Multi-member constituencies means it more likely everyone will have a MP that represents them Tactical voting eliminated, no safe seats and fewer wasted votes Voters have access to more than one representative to share concerns Coalition governments are likely so parties are forces to work together

Question 55

3 weaknesses of STV

Answer 55

Process for counting votes is complicated so may decrease turnout Coalition governments would be produced which can be weak and unstable. Link between constituents and representatives is weak and so their accountability is also

Question 56

What is a referendum?

Answer 56

A form of direct democracy, it is usually a yes or no vote offered to the pubic by the government on a single issue.