Electoral Systems

Question 1

What is a manifesto?

Answer 1

The document published by each party before the election, outlining the vision and programme the party plans to follow should it win the election

Question 2

What is the doctrine of the mandate?

Answer 2

The party who wins an election have the authority to form a government, put into practice the policies set out in their manifesto, follow policies not in the manifesto if unforeseen circumstances arise

Question 3

What is the Salisbury convention?

Answer 3

A British political tradition that the House of Lords tends not to try to obstruct policies which were in the governments manifesto at the time of the election

Question 4

What is a wasted vote?

Answer 4

A vote that does not affect the outcome of the election as it is cast for a losing candidate or for a candidate who already has sufficient votes already

Question 5

What is a safe seat?

Answer 5

A seat/constituency that rarely changes hands and is consistently won by the same party

Question 6

What is simple plurality?

Answer 6

The latest number out of a collection of numbers

Question 7

What is tactical voting?

Answer 7

Voting not for your preferred party but for the least bad party to defeat the worst party

Question 8

What is a marginal seat?

Answer 8

A seat/constituency with a small majority which is therefore considered winnable by more than one party

Question 9

What are the features of FPTP

Answer 9

Single member constituency
Voter puts an X next to their favourite candidate
The candidate with the most votes is elected to represent the constituency

Question 10

Where is FPTP used in the UK?

Answer 10

The House of Commons, Westminster
Local elections
The Mayor of London elections since the Elections Act 2022

Question 11

What are the features of Supplementary Vote?

Answer 11

Single member constituency
Voter selects their favourite candidate and a second favourite
If a candidate gets 50% of first preference they are elected l, if not then all candidates apart from the top two are eliminated and their second preferences distributed to get the winner

Question 12

Where is Supplementary vote used in the UK?

Answer 12

Nowhere - was used in the London Mayor elections until 2022
There was a worry London citizens would not take the Mayor seriously
SV would make sure that at least half of voters supports them

Question 13

What are the features of Single Transferable Vote?

Answer 13

A multi member constituency
Voter ranks all the candidates (party’s can have multiple MPs won in each constituency)
The Droop quota is used to calculate how many votes is needed to be elected
Any candidate with enough 1st preferences to meet the quota is elected
If they have more votes than needed they are redistributed to other candidates
The redistribution may give enough candidates the votes to be elected
If seats are still available the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated and the votes redistributed

Question 14

Where is STV used in the UK?

Answer 14

Northern Ireland as it helps with power sharing between catholic and protestant parties - Good Friday Agreement 1998

Question 15

What are the features of Additional Member System?

Answer 15

Each voter casts two votes, one for their constituency and a party
The constituency element works in the same way as FPTP
The party element means parties suffering from FPTP but with a lot of votes for the party get top up seats

Question 16

Where is AMS used in the UK?

Answer 16

The London Assembly
Welsh Parliament elections
Scottish Parliament elections:
- Labour was so popular FPTP would make them the most dominating party
- This would make parliament irrelevant for any other voter
- Blair wanted the devolution work so used a fairer system (he knew SNP would never get a majority)

Question 17

What are the features of Closed Party List?

Answer 17

The voter votes for their favourite party
Before the election the party publishes a rank of their MPs
The percentage of votes a party gets is the amount of seats they get

Question 18

What is a plurality system?

Answer 18

Electoral systems which require candidates to gain more votes than their opponents to win the seat but not necessarily an absolute majority
Exp: First Past the Post

Question 19

What is a majority system?

Answer 19

Electoral systems which require candidates to gain an absolute majority of the votes to win
Exp: Supplementary Vote

Question 20

What is a hybrid system?

Answer 20

Electoral systems which include both plurality/ majority and proportional elements
Exp: Additional Member System and Alternative Vote

Question 21

What is a proportional system?

Answer 21

Electoral systems which attempts to accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast for parties with the proportion of seats they win
Exp: Single Transferable Vote and Closed Party system

Question 22

What type of party system do plurality systems create?

Answer 22

Usually a 2 party systems - 18/21 elections in Westminster between 1945 and now
Occasionally 3 party system - 2010 Conservative and Lib Dem coalition and 2017 confidence and supply agreement with DUP

Question 23

What party system does proportional systems result in?

Answer 23

Multi party systems - NI Assembly LaGs results in coalitions

Question 24

What is Duvergers Law?

Answer 24

Plurality system usually end with a 2 party system while proportional have multi party system

Question 25

What is the trend with voting systems and the type of government created?

Answer 25

Plurality systems tend to create a majority government while proportional systems result mostly in coalition

Question 26

What was the 2011 Electoral Reform Referendum regarding?

Answer 26

Change the voting system in Westminster to Alternative Vote

Question 27

What are the four main criteria used to judge an electoral system

Answer 27

Fairness - share of seats reflects the share of the votes, all votes count equally
Choice - voters have a good choice of candidates
MP constituency link - MPs should know their constituency well and vice versa
Strong and Stable Government

Question 28

What are the Pros and Cons of FPTP?

Answer 28

Pros: MP constituency link - small constituencies and only one MP
Strong and stable government - usually results in a majority government
Simple - voters easily understand why candidates win
Keeps out extremists - unlikely to come first

Cons: Minor parties are disadvantaged and parties don’t need a large share of popular votes
There is a lot of wasted votes
It encourages tactical voting
It results in safe seats which are often neglected by the party

Question 29

What are the Pros and Cons of SV?

Answer 29

Pros: small single member constituencies
results in majority government
limits the need for tactical voting
relatively simple to understand

Cons: significant amount of votes are still wasted and candidates still often win without 50% of vote
winner may only win because of redistributed second preferences

Question 30

What are the Pros and Cons of STV?

Answer 30

Pros: parties are awarded a share of seats proportional to share of votes
Offers a huge level of choice with little wasted votes
Gives a constituency a choice of MPs to talk to

Cons: likely to lead to coalitions so government is less stable
it could help extremism parties to be elected
Very demanding of the voter
MP constituency link is weaker

Question 31

What are the Pros and Cons of AMS

Answer 31

Pros: reasonably proportional
single local MP
lots of choice for the voter

Cons: Still unfairness from FPTP element
Puts a lot of power in the party leader who can choose who the top up seats go to