component 1: electoral systems

Question 1

first past the post

Answer 1

• there are 650 constituencies in UK, aim of FPTP is achieve seat majority, voters select single candidae, winner is the one with the most vote.
  pros: 1 - creates strong, single party gov ith clear electoral mandatee. 2 - MPs have close links with consituencies they represent. 3 - keeps out extremist partes. 4 -clear choice between candidates - clear and simple. 5 - simplicity, simple, easu to use, quick to get results.
  cons: 1 - unrepresentaive, favours 2 main parties, distortion between no. of votes cast and no. of seats won is large. 2 - FPTP MPS elected on plurality not majority - unrperesentative. 3 - discriminates against small parties, UKIP got 12% of vote in 2015 but got 1 seat. 4 - limited party choice due to 2 party domincne,too much power in hands of executive.

Question 2

supplementary voting

Answer 2

• used in London mayor and PCC elections. Candidates vote 1st and 2nd prefernce. 1st prefernce is counted, if candidate recieves >50% they are eleted. if no one gets 50% all but top 2 eliminated. 2nd prefernce of eliminated candidates are transferred to the 2 left. Person with most votes wins.
• pros: 1 - simple, easy to use and udnerstand, 2 - maintains traditional links between MPs and constituencies via majorities. 3 - penalises extremist parties, not likely to get votes. 4 - more proportional, based on majorities not pluralities. 5 - single party majority is achieved.
• cons: 1 - does not ensure winning candiate has 50% of voet if goes to 2nd preference. 2 - does not produce proportional results and still under represents small parties. 3 - lets voters express 2 choices so possible for lots of first choices to be excluded. 4 -still has 2 party dominance.

Question 3

additional members system

Answer 3

2 votes: 1 - vote for individual members of constituencies. 2 - vote for parties regionally. COunt 1st vote first and elect them, then count 2nd vote - seats allocated taken into account constituency seats won. e.g. welsh senedd, scottish parliament.
pros: 1 - proporitonal, %of votes cast =no.of seats won. 2 - more accurate reflection of how people have voted. 3 - can support more than 1 party. 4 - improved representation of small parties.
cons: 1 - single pary gov still likely - results favour largest party. 2 - leads to coaltiions - seen as unstable and weak. 3 - parties choose candidate for list - no control, 4 - more complicated with use of top up seats.
Scotland: 129 seats available, SNP got 59 seats and 4 top ups. COns recieved 7 seats and 24 topups to ensure fairness and prevent SNP domincance. 2021 - SNP coaltition with greens.
Wales: labour largest party in every election, coalition with plaid cymru in 2003 and 2007

Question 4

single transferrable vote (stv)

Answer 4

Parties put forward no.of candidates, voters vote in preference order. 1st prefernces counted. ANyone bove quota wins seatsbased on how far above quota, unused votes are distrubuted to next choice, continue until seats are full.
pros: 1 - dont need majority to be elcted, minority viewpoints are represented. 2 - few votes wasted due to prefernce ranking, 3 - each are represented, views are heard. 4 - more choice as parties put forward more candidates. 5 - proportional.
cons: 1 - single party gov unlikely coalition govs weak and unstable. 2 - lots of candidate = voters do not know them all. 3 - takes longer,r esults not done quickly. 4 - ballot papers long and confusing. 5 - parties control lists.