Electoral Systems Flashcards
Examples of minor party success at general elections:
2019- SNP won 48/59 Scottish seats at general election
Example of safe seat (per party)
- Labour, Liverpool Walton since 1964
- Conservatives, Hertsmere since 1983
Examples of marginal seats:
Kensington (2017- Labour, 20 vote majority) (2019- Tories, 150 vote majority)
Number of seats estimated as safe seats:
Electoral reform society estimates 364 seats as safe (56%)
Number of votes wasted in 2019
Electoral reform society estimated 22 million
Example of ‘electoral deserts’
Areas of the country where a party cannot win seats- South East for Labour
Power sharing of STV going wrong:
N.Ireland executive suspended 2002-2007
-broke down in 2017 - 2020
Example of STV being proportional
2016- Sinn Fein won 23% of seats with 24% of votes
Sizes of constituencies varying
Average size of constituency- 70,000
Isle of Wight - 113,000
Example of FPTP candidate winning with less than 50% of the vote
2005- Tony Blair re-elected on 35% of the vote
Example of SV providing a clear mandate
Sadiq Khan- 2016 got 56% of votes by 2nd round
Example of AMS providing higher levels of representation for smaller parties Wales
2016- Welsh Assembly, UKIP won 7 top-up seats but 0 constituency seats
Higher representation of smaller parties under STV
2015- under STV, UKIP would’ve won 54 seats
Example of MP winning constituency with under 50% of the vote
2015- Alisdair McDonnel won Belfast South with only 24.5% of the vote
Example of extremist parties being hindered by FPTP
2010- BNP got over 500k votes , with zero seats
Example of extremist party success in other elections
2008- BNP received two seats in the European Parliament
Example of FPTP producing weak parliament
2010- David Cameron only had a 7% lead over Labour
EU referendum
Voted leave 52% to 48%
Turnout- 72%
AV referendum
Voted to not reform 67%
Turnout- 41%
Devolution referendums 1997 & 1998
- 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement referendum
- 1997 Scottish devolution referendum
- 2011 Welsh devolution referendum
Example of referendums legitimising government decisions
2011- referendum to extend the powers of the Welsh Assembly
TURNOUT 35%
Example of government choosing not to hold referendum
Blair and Brown denied the electorate a say on the Lisbon Treaty (2007), which increased European integration
Brexit referendum being influenced by outside sources
Ad influence, including the promotion of misinformation through russian state-sponsored media outlets such as RT and Sputnik
Example of AMS working in favour of major parties (wales)
2021- Labour won 30/60 (50%) seats in Welsh Assembly elections
Referendums possibly challenging parliamentary sovereignty
Estimated that 73% of MP’s opposed Brexit BUT in 2017 the HoC voted to allow government to open negotiations to leave the EU
Evidence that suggests FPTP has advantaged major parties
5 out of 7 elections have produced majoritarian governments
Evidence that FPTP is unpopular
According to a British Social Attitudes survey in 2022, 66% want to reform FPTP
Evidence that AMS produces weak governments
5 out of 6 elections have been minority governments
Evidence that SV is unpopular
turnout
2021- Police + Crime Commissioners election was 33.2%
2022- London Mayoral- 42%
Evidence that STV produces weak governments
0 out 6 elections have produced majority governments
