ELECTORAL SYSTEMS Flashcards
AMS how it works
- additional member system, hybrid
- used in Scottish Welsh and London elections
- 2/3rds of seats by FPTP
- other third based on closed regional list voting
- voters have two votes, one for constituency one for party
- d’hondt method used to calculate
STV how it works
- used in NI and Scot local elections
- six seats per constituency
- voters put candidates in order of preference
- electoral quota calculated
- if meet this, elected
- if not, other choices added until 6 do
FOR fptp
FOR
- tried and tested with public support
- strong mp-constituency link
- normally produces strong govs
- easy to understand
- accountability is clear and easy
- limits extremist success
AGAINST fptp
- produces very unrepresentative outcome, not fair to voters or smaller outcomes
- 2010, 15 and 17 elections produced weak govs
- wasted votes
- safe seats mean votes of unequal value
- encourages tactical voting
- prevents new parties, creates political inertia
- since 1945 every winning party has had less than half of bite
for and against AMS
FOR
- more proportional so fairer
- gives voters more choice
- preserves MP-constituency link
AGAINST
- produces two classes of representative, ones by list tend to be more senior
- complex
- can result in extremism
- more likely to produce minority or coalition gov
for and against STV
FOR
- proportional
- gives voters wide choice plus other choices taken into consideration
- voters can show a preference for candidates of same party
- everyone usually has someone they align with to represent them
AGAINST
- very complex
- vote counting can take a long time
- extremism
- lines of accountability not clear
- minority gov
examples of referendums
- 1997 scottish parliament and devolution 74% Y
- 1997 wales 50% YES
- 1998 Belfast agreement 71% YES
- 2004 northeast england devolution 78% NO
- 2011 alternative vote 68% NO
- 2014 scottish independence 55% NO
- 2016 Brexit 52% YES
why would a referendum be called
- divisive issue causing conflict and stagnation, to settle the issue eg brexit
- issue of huge constitutional significance eg scottish independence
- to entrench and safeguard constitutional changes eg belfast agreement
- to judge public opinion on an issue eg congestion charges
for referendums
- purest form of democracy, pure will of people, direct expression of popular consent
- can unite a divide society eg belfast agreement
- can solve conflicts within gov and political system eg EU 1975 and 2016
- makes decisions respected eg devolution
against referendums
- issue may be too complex to understand or to reduce to simple yes/no answer
- can cause social rifts eg EU and scotland
- can undermine authority of representative democracy
- can represent tyranny of majority
- voters often swayed by emotional not rational appeals
