electoral systems Flashcards
explain the FPTP voting system
voters pick a single canidate to represent thier constituency, whoever gets the most votes wins a seat, candidate does not need a majority to win
what are the advantages to FPTP
simple, representitives closely bound to needs of thier constituency , tends to produce outright winner, small xtremist partys arent likely to get many votes, traditional
what are disadvantages to FPTP
advantage to partys that have concentrated support in certain areas,disadvantage to partys whose support is is dispersed widly, favours larger partys, sometimes fails to produce a decisive government majority(2010,2015,2017)
what is the additional member system
a hybrid system that combines FPTP and proportional representation system, proportion awarded through FPTP and the rest by a closed party list system( so every one has 2 votes)- one fro constituency candidates and one for an individual party
what are advantages of the aditional member system
produces broadly proportional outcome, fair to all parties, gives voters more choice, helps small parties that cannot win constituency votes.
what are disadvantages of the additional member system
produces 2 classes of representatives, more complex than FPTP, can result in election of extremist candidates.
explain the single transferable vote system
there are 6 seats available in each constituency and each party can put forward that amount of candidates(but the mos that can be elected from each party is 4) voters rank the candidates in order of their preference(1-6) and can vote for candidates from different parties. at the count a quota is calculated which is the total amount of votes which they then divide by the number of seats available e.g. 50,000/6+1=7, and when they get the answer they add 1 to that, any candidates that reach the quota are automatically elected, the last candidate is eliminated and their votes are added to the second subsequent preferences on their ballot papers and so on.
what are advantages of the single transferable vote
produces broadly proportional outcome, gives voters very wide choice of candidate, can vote for candidates from different parties, more likely to be represented by someone they support, helps small parties
what are the disadvantages of the single transferable vote
it is a very complex system, many voters will not understand, vote counting is complicated,lines of accountability are not clear with 6 representatives
explain the suplementry vote system
voters have 2 choices, if a candidate gets a majority after the first round they are automatically elected if this does not happen the top 2 candidates go into a second round and all the others drop out.
what are the advantages to the suplimentry vote system
the winning candidate can claim an overall majority,it is relatively simple for voters to understand, can vote for people from more than one party.
what are disadvantages of the suplementry vote system
winning candidate might be a second choice candidate, it will probably promote a 2-party system, third parties will be more excluded from winning seats than under FPTP
