Elections Flashcards
What is a constituency?
a geographical area that elects a representative to a parliament or legislature, or a group of people who support a person, product, or idea e.g Ealing North
What is the FPTP system?
A system where the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins. However, this system is flawed due to the conditions for winning is not to have the majority of votes in a constituency but to merely beat the other running candidates which leads to “wasted votes”
Advantages of FPTP
Preserves 2-party system
Very simple to understand and produces clear/decisive results
Creates a strong single party majority government (exceptions; 2010,2017)
Stronger link between constituencies and representatives- emails, surgeries
Allows voters to choose between different candidates-stronger democratic system
Disadvantages of FPTP
Those living in safe seats probably feel like their vote makes no difference and reduces turnout/participation
Not a proportional system in 2019, the Brexit Party won a total of 644,257 votes but ended up with no MPs
Often results in coalition governments that are politically volatile and more likely to collapse
It over rewards the larger parties but discriminates against smaller parties like Liberal Democrats or Green Party
It can lead to tactical voting or negative voting which can negatively affect a group of people which harms a democracy
What is AMS (Additional Member System)?
When voters get 2 votes. One for the constituency representative and the other for the parties. For example in Scotland, 73 MSPs are selected from the Westminster-style first ballot paper and 56 from the second ballot paper using the regional proportional list
Advantages of AMS
Third party candidates are best represented and smaller parties are too
Less chance of votes for smaller parties being wasted. Eg. Scottish Green Party still gained 2 seats thanks to the regional list MSPs
A larger proportionate result seen in the Lothans regions
Disadvantages of AMS
It doesn’t guarantee a turnout boost. For example, Welsh turnout in the 2019 general election was 67%. For the 2016 devolved assembly elections, which use AMS, it was just 45%
More complicated than FPTP
Produces minority government although SNP has been the dominant force in the Scottish Parliament recent elections, it has only once in 2011 secured an overall majority
Factors that can influence voting behaviour other than class
Age
Gender
Race
Ethnicity
What is suffrage?
The right to vote. Universal suffrage effectively equates to democracy for all groups
What is partisan dealignment?
The process whereby individuals become less partisan and predictable in supporting a particular political party
What is class dealignment?
What is List PR?
A voting system where constituencies are scaled to be much bigger where there might be 26 large constituencies each electing 25 MPs. Parties rank their candidates in each area in a list so the highest ranked candidates are usually chosen to be leaders of the party
Advantages of List PR
Highly proportional result- The Brexit party won around 39% of the overall vote and gained 4 (10%) of the seats
Less chance of votes being wasted and all parties have a chance to win
Wider range of candidates can get elected. For example in the 2009 European election 2 BNP candidates (a far-right party) were elected as MEPs.
Disadvantages of List PR
Doesn’t guarantee higher turnout- For example in 2019, turnout in European elections was just 36.9%
Doesn’t produce a strong majority government- For 2019 European elections, the winning party, Brexit, won just under just 29/73 seats
This system is less straightforward and more cumbersome, with its multiple rounds
