Different Electoral System and their advantages and disadvantages

Question 1

What are the main features of FPTP?

Answer 1

• The country is divided into constituencies
• Each constituency return one MP
• At elections, each party presents one candidate
• The winner of the election is the candidate who wins more votes than any other candidate - known as plurality
• It is not necessary to win an overall majority to win a seat - about half the winning candidates in the UK do not gain more than 50% of the votes in their constituency

Question 2

What are the outcomes of first-past-the-post?

Answer 2

• Many seats are safe seats - only a minority of seats are marginal seat
• Usually the system tends to produce an overall majority - but this was not the case in 2010 or 2017
• Small parties have virtually no chance of winning seats
• It is therefore associated with a two-party system

Question 3

What are the advantages of first-past-the-post?

Answer 3

• Easy to understand and produces a clear result in each constituency
• It produces on single representative for each constituency and so creates a close constituency-MP bond
• Accountability of the individual MP is clear to the electors
• Until 2010 the system tended to produce strong governments with a decisive majority in Parliament
• It helps to prevent small parties breaking into the system - stops extremist parties
• Arguably the system has stood the test of time
• Effective representation
• Swift and orderly transfer of power
• Coalitions can be unstable

Question 4

What are the main disadvantages of FPTP?

Answer 4

• MPs and government can be elected on less than 50% of the vote
• Lack of proportionality
• More than half of MPs typically do not command majority support within their constituency
• Support for parties is even lower when turnout figures are taken into account

Question 5

How does the Additional Member System (AMS) work?

Answer 5

• It’s a hybrid electoral system
• The public cast two votes one of which follows the rules of FPTP
• The second is for a Party list - the voter ticks the party that your favour in your region

Question 6

What is the ratio of list members to constituency members?

Answer 6

• 2/3 are elected using FPTP
• Top up list makes up 1/3 of the seats in parliament
• In Scotland 73 out 129 are elected in constituencies using FPTP - the remaining 56 seats being filled by list members
• Wales - 40:20

Question 7

What are the advantages of AMS?

Answer 7

• It produces a broadly proportional outcome and so is fair to all parties
• It gives voters two votes and so more choices
• It combines preserving constituency representation with a proportion outcome
• In Scotland in the 1997 General Election, the Conservatives won no seats - but in the Scottish Parliament election in, the list enabled them to gain 18 seats in 1999.

Question 8

What mathematic formula is used to determine the list seats in AMS?

Answer 8

The d’Hondt method.

Question 9

What are the main disadvantages of AMS?

Answer 9

• Creates two different type of members - some members don’t have a constituency responsibility
• The Party picks who is put up for election on the list.