Elections Flashcards
long term factors affecting voting
SOCIAL CLASS-Working class Labour voter, middle class conservative voter
PARTY LOYALTY- partisan alignment
GENDER
AGE- Levels of conservative increase with age
RELIGION AND ETHNICITY- Tories more pop among CofE voters, Labour more pop among ethnic voters
REGION- Urban=pro Labour Rural=pro-torie
Compulsory voting for VS against
FOR:
INCREASED PARTICIPATION
GREATER LEGITIMACY-gov would have popular majority not just electoral majority
CIVIC DUTY- emphasising to public voting is a civic duty
STRONGER SOCIAL JUSTICE- Make poor and less educated vote (people more likely not to vote)
AGAINST:
ABUSE OF FREEDOM- Right not to vote as important as right to vote
COSMETIC DEMOCRACY- Wont address deeper problems that account for voter disengagement
WORTHLESS VOTERS
DISTORTED POLITICAL FOCUS
What are elections based on?
- Universal suffrage
- one person, one vote
- the secret ballot
- competition between candidates and parties
Short term factors affecting voting
POLICIES- Policies that have wide electoral appeal
PERFOMANCE- Elections largely decided by the government of the day particularly its economic performance
LEADERS-Telegenic, trustworthy, strong
PARTY IMAGE- eg tories known to be ‘nasty party’
CAMPAIGNING- Less significant than backing of major news papers but over £40 mill was spent by parties during 2005 GE
TACTICAL VOTING- When 2 parties so close in ideology you vote for least preferred.
Main elections in the UK
GENERAL ELECTION
DEVOLVED ASSEMBLIES ELECTION
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
LOCAL ELECTIONS
Elections VS referendums
ELECTIONS:
- Fill office/ form government
- Vote for candidate/ party
- General issues
- Regular (legally required)
- Representative democracy
REFERENDUMS
- Make policy decisions
- select yes/no option
- specific issue
- Ad hoc (decided by gov)
- Direct democracy
Functions of elections
FORMING GOVERNMENTS
-Formed from leading members of the majority party in the house of commons
HOWEVER- Promotional electoral systems make it less likely that a single ‘winning’ party emerges. Governments may therefore be formed through deals negotiated amongst 2 or more parties.
ENSURING REPRESENTATION
-Link between elected politicians and their constituents- ensures concerns are properly articulated
-Make politicians of the day publicly accountable
HOWEVER
-4/5 year fixed term weakens link
-debate about how elected politcians can and should represent their electors
UPHOLDING LEGITIMACY
-Legitimacy=key to maintaining political stability
-Elections uphold legitimacy by providing a way that citizens consent to being governed: Act of voting
HOWEVER
-Low turnout levels = doubt on the legitimacy of the UK political system
-failing support since 1970s, for the 2 governing parties= declining levels of satisfaction w/ performance of the UK political system.
Representation: Trusteeship
Trusteeship- Burkean Representation
-Representatives should think for themselves and use their own judgement because they have superior knowledge, better education and expertise and mass of people dont know their best interest. (act as trustees not delegates)
HOWEVER
-Creates a gap between views of ordinary citizens and the views of their representatives
-representatives act in their own interests or in the interests of people like them
-out of date
representation: doctrine of the mandate
- In winning an election, party gains popular mandate that authorises it to carry out its manifesto on which it fought in the election
HOWEVER
-Little evidence voters voter rationally
-vote for party is unlikely to indicate support for its entire manifesto
-cant force gov to carry out manifesto
-manifesto often include vote-winning policies
-coalition gov means doctrine of the mandate may become unworkable, as post-election deals are negotiated between election partners.
representation: descriptive representation
-representative government would consiste of a microcosm of the larger society
microcosm= miniture version of a larger body
-in UK there is under representation of groups such as women, working class and ethnic minorities
HOWEVER
-No-one would defend the common good
-microcosm of society would reflect its weaknesses as well as strengths
-Labours attempt to boost female representation backfired under equal opportunites act
electoral systems
MAJORITARIAN SYSTEMS
- over represent larger parties
- larger parties typically win a higher proportion of seats than the proportion of votes they gain in an election
PROPORTIONAL SEATS
- System that represents parties in line with their electoral support
- guarantee equal or reliable relationship between seats won by parties and the votes gained in an election.
FPTP
USED: GE to HOC
DISPROPOTIONAL
SYSTEMATIC BIAS- SIZE OF PARTY-voters discouraged from voting for small parties (wasted vote) therefore inclined to choose least bad party
DISTRIBUTION OF SUPPORT- More
geographically concentrated do better as more
likely pluralities.
TWO-PARTY SYTEM
SINGLE PARTY GOV
LANDSLIDE AFFECT- Gov can win landslide victory on basis of relatively modest electoral system.
Proportional system
GREATER PROPORTIONALITY- Regional party list, AMS and STV all deliver a high and reliable level of proportionality
-Landslide effect reduced
MULTIPARTY SYTEMS:
- Proportional systems broaden basis of party representation and creates multi party system
- Eg green had no representaion at westminster despite having gained more than 1/4 million votes however greens are represented on most other bodies.
COALITION AND MINORITY GOVERNMENTS
-greater likelihood of coalition and minority govs
CONSENSUS POLITICS
-Lead to policy process that emphasises the need for compromise, negotiation and development.
Reforming westminster elections for VS against
FOR:
ELECTORAL FAIRNESS- Party strength in parl should represent level of support in the country
ALL VOTES COUNT- Less wasted votes
MAJORITY GOVERNMENTS
ACCOUNTABLE GOV-FPTP leads to executive domination
CONSENSUS POLITICS
AGAINST: CLEAR ELECTORAL CHOICE CONSTITUENCY REPRESENTATION MANDATE DEMOCRACY STRONG GOV STABLE GOV
STV (single transferrable vote)
USED: N. Ireland Assembly, N.Ireland and Scotland for local gov
FEATURES:
-Multimember constituencies
-Political parties put as many candidates as there are seats
-Electors vote by ranking candidates in order (1,2,3…)
-Candidates elected if they achieve a quota of votes
ADVANTAGES:
-Capable of highly proportional outcomes
-Competition among same party candidates means they can be judged on their individual strengths
-Wide choice
DISADVANTAGES
-Degree of proportionality can vary
-Strong and stable single party gov unlikely
-Multimember constituencies devisive because they encourage competition.
Regional Party List/ Closed Party list
USED: European Parliament (except nothern ireland)
FEATURES:
-Large multimember constituencies
-Electors vote for parties not for candidates
-Parties are allocated seats in direct proportion to votes
ADVANTAGES
-Only pure system of proportional representation
-promote unity
-easier for women and minority candidates to be elected provided they feature on the party list
DISADVANTAGES
-Unstable gov due to many small parties
-Link between representatives and constituencies is significantly weakened
SV (supplementary votes) AV (alternative votes)
USED: London Mayor (SV), Scottish local government by-election (AV)
FEATURES:
- Single-member constituencies
- AV:Voters vote preferrentially SV:electors have 2 votes-a first preference vote and a second ‘supplementary’ vote.
- winning candidate must gain minimum of 50% of all votes cast
ADVANTAGES:
-SV/AV ensures that fewer votes are wasted than in FPTP
-Winning candidate must secure 50% of support
DISADVANTAGES:
-Outcome of the election may be determined by the preference of those who support, extremist parties
-winning candidates may enjoy little first preference support and only succeed through supplementary votes.
AMS (additional member system)
USED: Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Greater London assembly
FEATURES:
-Mixed system
-Proportion of seats filled by FPTP and the remaining filled by closed party list
ADVANTAGES:
-Balance need for constituency representation over need for electoral fairness
-proportional keeps alive single party gov
-wider and more considered choice
DISADVANTAGES:
- Possibility of low proportionality
- confusion by having 2 clases of representative
- constituency representation will be less effective than FPTP
