Electoral systems Flashcards
What’s used in mayoral elections
FPTP used to be SV
What’s used in general elections
FPTP
Whats used in the Northern Irish assembly
STV
What’s used in Scottish and Welsh parliament
AMS
Difference between safe and Marginal seats
marginal: competitive Safe: Safe
Safest seats 2019 GE
All in the north east Liverpool and Labor (red wall) (74%), Knowsley (72%) Bootle (70%)
Most Marginal seats 2019 GE
South Tyrone (0.11% Seinn Fein) Bury North (0.22% Con)
Largest recent Winners Bonuses
1997 Tony Blair (New labour, 418 Mps), 2019 Boris Johnson(365 seats)
Advantages of FPTP
Strong constituency MP link, effective representation, clear outcomes, strong gov, prevents extremist parties, simplicity
disadvantages of FPTP
Seat’s don’t equal votes, Electoral deserts, MP’s don’t need majority to win just more than 2nd, only one candidate per party in a seat, foregone conclusions
Advantages of SV
winner must achieve broad support, simple, voters get chance to support more than one party, small parties more representation
disadvantages of SV
not proportional, can win without majority, winner can win on second choice votes, entrenches two party system, third parties more likely to get excluded
advantages of STV
Proportional, most popular candidate elected, gov more likely to have party with over 50% of votes, helps smaller parties get elected, greater choice
disadvantages of STV
complex, coalition likely, 6 reps per constituency, can give minor parties disproportionate power
advantages of AMS
Hybrid System(fptp and regional), broadly proportional, less wasted votes, greater choice, helps smaller parties
disadvantages of AMS
two categories of representative, smaller parties under represented, extremist more chance of getting in, more complex than fptp
example of fptp being weak 2019 election
conservative won 43% vote but 56% of seats landslide victory with minority vote share
lib dems got 11% of the vote but only 11 seats
snp got 3% of the vote but 48 seats
Ams system example 2021 scottish parliment
snp got 47.7% of constiuentcy vote but only 64 out of 129 seats
greens benefitted from regional list got 8 seats
stv system example 2022 NI election
sienn fein 29% of vote became largest party, very proportional system, power sharing encouraged
sv vote example 2021 mayoral election
Sadik Khan won with 55% second round, first round no one got 50%
