Elections Flashcards
What are Elections?
Elections are the main way for the average person in the UK to engage with politics and impact decision-making.
What are manifestos
During election campaigns, political parties issue manifestos that outline the policies that they would introduce if they gained power. Victorious parties are then expected to deliver these pledges.
What is the six main functions of elections?
Representation Participation Citizen Education Legitimacy Influence over policy Choosing Government
Why is Representation a function of elections?
Representation – we are electing a MP to represent us as a whole and as individuals.
Why is influence over policy a function of elections?
Influence over policy – allows citizens to have their policy preferences heard. People decide the policy programmes to implement – they grant a mandate.
Why is legitimacy a function of elections?
Legitimacy – free and fair elections provide legitimacy for the political system as a whole. By the act of voting, citizens are giving their consent to the political system as well as the government.
Why is choosing a government a function of elections?
Choosing a govt – accountability - we are delivering a verdict on the performance of the govt in power.
Why is participation a function of elections?
Participation – gives people their chance to get involved in democracy.
Why is citizen education a function of policy?
Citizen Education – electoral campaigns provide citizens with info on major issues, party policies, the govt’s record. Informs citizens.
What should an election be in a liberal democracy?
Competitive – voters should have a meaningful choice.
Free – Needs basic civil liberties, such as freedom of speech and association, and a free press.
Fair – ‘one person, one vote, one value’. Electoral law should be unbiased and overseen by an impartial judiciary.
What system of election do we use in the UK?
Here in the UK we use the ‘first past the post’ system. What this means is the UK electoral system uses a system where the candidate gains the highest number of votes in an election in a single member constituency sends an MP to the House of Commons. This is called a plurality system.
Features of an the ‘first past the post’ system
Each constituency returns one MP
Each party nominates one candidate in each constituency
Voters have only one vote each. They choose their candidate with an X (cross) on the ballot paper.
Whichever candidate wins the largest number of votes is declared elected.
What is the Plurality system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system based on single-member constituencies. The most common system is first past the post or winner-takes-all, a voting system in which a single winner is chosen from a constituency because they have more votes than any other candidate. There is no requirement that the winner gain an absolute majority of votes.
What is the First Past The Post System?
FPTP is the current system for electing MPs to the House of Commons. It is a plurality system with 650 separate constituencies each electing a single Member of Parliament.
Winning candidates simply need to gain more votes than any other candidate; no need for an absolute majority of all the votes in a constituency. Official term: ‘single member, simple plurality’ system.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the FPTP system
FPTP is easy to understand – the candidate in a constituency with the most votes wins the seat – they become the MP.
There are 650 constituencies in the UK, therefore there are 650 available seats
The party that wins the most seats overall usually forms the government
FPTP usually produces majority governments, although there have been coalitions recently (Con/Lib Dem, Con/DUP)
It is not a proportional system – many votes are wasted
Favours bigger parties – Labour and Conservative
Some feel it produces ‘unfair’ results, others feel it gives the winning a strong majority to govern without having to compromise
What is a Proportional Representation System?
PR is an electoral method aiming to match the percentage of votes cast in elections into the percentage of seats received.There are a variety of systems contained within this umbrella term. Among advanced western democracies it has become the predominant voting system. i.e. in western Europe, 21 of 28 countries use PR, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
This means that if a party has 25% of the votes, they have 25% of the seats.
What is Single Transferable Vote?
The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a form of preferential voting in multi-member constituencies. A candidate requires a quota of votes to win. Once the quota is reached the surplus votes are given to the second choice candidate, then third choice until all the seats are filled by whoever meets the quota. The system is used for local government elections in Northern Ireland and Scotland, European Parliament elections in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
What is a Majoritarian System?
Majoritarian systems are designed to ensure that the winning candidate in a particular contest has the support of at least 50% of those people who voted. So, when there are more than two candidates, there will be two parts to the election:
- Part 1 > designed to reduce the contest to only two candidates.
- Part 2 > is a run-off between the two survivors.
