electoral systems Flashcards
safest seat in 2019
Walton, Liverpool Labour 75%
Safest seat 2024
Chorley, Lindsey Hoyle Speaker 74%
2nd safest seat 2024
Walton Liverpool Lab 70%
What are marginal seats
usually change hands every election
most competitive seats
most marginal seats 2024 election (2)
Hendon, London Lab by 0.04% to Con
Poole, South West Lab by 0.04% to Con
Small parties struggle to win seats example (2 parties)
Greens 2-3% but only 1 seat, would be 10-15 if PR was used
In 2024 won 6.7% and 5 seats
Reform 14% and 5 seats
What is winners bonus and example
Victory due to winning marginal seats and safe seats of opposition party
1997, Labour won 10.2% swing from conservative as they won marginal and con safe seats
2019 example of winners bonus
Cons won landslide of 365 as they did well in strong leave seats 3/4
Both parties didn’t preform well in remain seats (Corbyn euro sceptic)
Also red wall, con did well in trad working class mainly labour seats (18)
Untill 2015, FPTP benefitted Lab..
1997 blair scrapped promise to change to proportional system as this benefited his party
Vote share was evenly distributed and allowed them to hold large number of seats
Act that altered the way constituencies were drawn
2011 Parliamentary Voting system and Constituencies Act
strong MP constituency Link
one mp per constituency creates a strong relationship and keeps mps accountable, clear understanding who their representative is
responsible government and example
Manifestos give voters clear choices between parties, If they don’t fulfil their promises they can be held to account
example - lib dem 2010 coalition uni frees abolished never went through
Alternative vote referendum 2011
Voters chose not to have proportional representation
Examples of FPTP having a disproportionate outcome
2019 Con 43% 365 seats
2024 Reform 14% 5 seats and green 6.7% but 4 seats
Examples of FPTP being a plurality system not majority
2019 Con 34% votes and 56% seats
2010 2/3 mps didn’t achieve majority in constituency
2005 Lab elected with 35% vote
Regional differences for parties are pronounced
Regional parties have little chance of being in gov
2019 Con in England SNP in scotland Lab in wales and Dup/sinnfein in northern ireland
SV is a what type of system
Majoritarian
50% of peoples first choice
If there isn’t an answer, top 2 candidates are counted again including peoples 2nd vote choices who hadn’t already voted for the top 2
Where was/is SV used
Metro mayors
PPC
Elections act 2022 ended this
now Both use FPTP
SV Metro mayor example (2)
2021 Burnham won every ward in manc with majority
Khan London Won 40% 1st, 55% 2nd time
example of mayoral elections big disadvantage
2021 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Palmer won 40% first time
2nd vote lost to 2nd place candidate as they got over 50% and he was 1% under
how does STV work
Multi member constituencies
preference 1,2,3
can vote for as many as they like
proportional system
Where is STV used
northern ireland assembly
local gov in scotland and ireland
results of northern irish assembly 2022
Sinn Fein 29% 27 seats
DUP 21% 25 seats
Alliance 14% 17 seats
why were the NI assembly 2022 results important
DUP usually win who are a unionist party and want to remain
Sinn Fein won and is a nationalist party who want NI to be apart of ireland and not the UK
Good friday agreement was an agreement between main Unionist/Nationalist parties to keep peace
Why has the coalition’s produced by STV been problematic
Unionists and nationalists forced into coalition and won’t work together even after power sharing agreements
2017 collapse
Stormont had not sat for 3 years
essentially missing out on government
AMS
Hybrid system of FPTP and regional lists
closed party list (already chosen by parties)
Proportion of legislative seats are elected using FPTP 73/129 scotland 40/60 wales
additional members elected in multi member constituencies
some members have constituencies to look after and some don’t
Where is AMS used
Scottish and Welsh parliament
London assembly
How does Alternative Vote system work
where is it used
Allows candidates to put as many candidates as they like in order of preference Labour and Lib D leadership elections
HOC select committee chair elections
How are ballot papers and constituencies different under STV compared to FPTP
STV has larger multiseat constituencies
instead of voting for single party, they can rank candidates
How does STV aim to eliminate wasted votes
redistributes second preference votes from surplus ballots that would otherwise be wasted on winning candidates
How can the STV transfer of surplus of ballots raise issues
Random transfer, close race could hinge on which ballot papers were randomly selected
Traditional transfer (Bonner Syndrome), Wrong candidate winning (cambridge and peterborough)
scottish parliament results 2021
64 SNP and 8 green coalition , 72/129 seats
evidence of AMS being unproprotional (SCOT)
2021 Scottish parliament election SNP won 40% votes but received 64 seats which is 50%
SNPS coalition with green in scotland shows what advantages
Green party can give the Scottish government the majority it needs to pass legislation for a second referendum on becoming independent
AND green party has a chance in government for the first time in the UK EVER!
How many seats does the SNP have in westminister 2024
9,
39 drop
Senedd cymru 2021 results (welsh parl)
Lab and plaid cymru coalition 43/60
What system does the welsh parliament use
AMS
How long as SNP been in power in scotland
since 2007
how long has lab been in power in wales
since 1998
2007 scottish local election
average number of candidates per ward 7.4
how many coalitions has there been
3 since WW2
2010 con lib d
and 2017 Con supply and demand with DUP
examples of the BNP in elections
2009 European parliament elections won 2 seats
2010 GE 2% but no seats due to dispersed support
jess philips constituency
won by 700 votes in birmingham yardley safe seat, need to remove safe seats to represent more people/ votes
