Electoral Systems Flashcards
What is a referendum?
A vote on a proposal with a yes or no answer
What are the limits of referendums?
- Ad hoc
⤷ only used when needed - Advisory
⤷ Parliament can decide if they will act upon it
⤷ EV - popular sovereignty = unlikely to ignore will of the people
⤷ e.g. 80% of MPs voted remain
What are the 8 referdums since 1997?
1997 - Scottish devolution
1997 - Welsh devolution
1998 - NI devolution
2004 - North East assembly
2011 - Welsh devolution
2011 - AV
2014 - Scottish independence
2016 - Brexit
What was the context of the Scottish devolution referendum 1997?
- Regional
- Result: 74.3% yes, 25.7% no
- Turnout: 60.4%
What was the context of the Welsh devolution referendum 1997?
- Regional
- In relation to Scottish powers
- Results: 50.3% yes, 49.7% no
- Turnout: 50.1%
⤷ onlt 1/4 of wales voted for it
What was the context of the NI devolution referendum 1998?
- Regional
- To determine public support of the Good Friday Agreement
- Results: 71.1% yes, 28.9% no
- Turnout: 81%
What was the context of the North-East assembly referendum 2004?
- Regional
- Results: 22% yes, 78% no
- Turnout: 47.7%
What was the context of the Welsh additional powers referendum 2011?
- Regional
- Results: 63.5% yes, 36.5% no
- Turnout: 35.6%
What was the context of the AV referendum 2011?
- National
- Due to disagreements within the coalition
- Results: 32.1% yes, 67.9% no
- Turnout: 42.2%
What was the context of the Scottish independence referendum 2014?
- Regional
- Results: 44.7% yes, 55.3% no
- Turnout: 84.6%
- Led to rise in SNP and losses for labour
⤷ 2019 - only won Edinburgh
What was the context of the Brexit referendum 2016?
- National
- Due to split within cons and pressure from public (petition with over 2 million signatures)
⤷ party rebellion from Gove, Johnson, Cummings - Results: 51.9% yes, 48.1% no
- Turnout: 72.2%
What are the controversies around the Brexit referendum?
- Revealed that Vote Leave broke the law after it exceeded the spending limits by £7m
⤷ fined £61,000
Misinformation
- Claimed leaving would bring in £350mil a week for the NHS
⤷ UK Statistics Authority - “clear misuse of official statistics”
⤷ day after ref result Farage disowned the pledge
- Claim that Turkey will join the EU and millions will flock to the UK (Gove)
⤷ Turkey has been blocked since 1999 from joining due to its human rights abuses
What are the knock-on effects of the Brexit referendum?
- Gave more incentive for Scottish independence as 62% of scots voted remain
⤷ 2017 - Sturgeon won in scottish parliament to request another independence ref but May refused
What were the issues with passing Brexit legislation?
- Issues with developing legislation as MPs mostly disagreed with the public opinion
⤷ 80% of MPs voted remain
⤷ Article 50 went through in 2017 and it took another 2.5 years to leave
⤷ 2019 GE = more leave MPs and a pro Leave cabinet
⤷ EU Withdrawal Agreement passed 2020
Why should referendums be used?
- Promotes participation
⤷ e.g. 1998 NI = 81% turnout
⤷ e.g. 2014 independence = 84% turnout - Direct democracy
⤷ gives everyone an equal voice - Create a more informed electorate
- Deters apathy
⤷ more involvement between elections, which could be indefinite due to the removal of the Fixed-Term Parliament Act - Help settle on-going debates
⤷ AV, Brexit, independence - Makes gov accountable and responsive
⤷ Brexit - a response to public will (petition)
Why shouldn’t referendums be used?
- Undermines Parliament if overused
⤷ puts MPs at odds with their constituents - Allows MPs to take little responsibility
⤷ e.g. Johnson - one of the main pro-leave voices yet left the negotiations to May after Cameron’s resignation - Manipulation of the public
⤷ misinformation means the public would be inable to accurately vote on such imprtant issues
⤷ e.g. leave’s overspending and exaggeration
⤷ e.g. remain spent £9m on a leaflet - Yes/no decision is too vague
⤷ ignores the nuance with each scenario - Creates apathy
⤷ too many causes the electorate to feel overwhelmed
⤷2011 - Welsh powers 35% turnout, AV 42% - Does not settle the issue
⤷ devolution led to further calls for more powers
⤷ Scotland continues to call for independence
⤷ Brexit debate continued for almost 4 years with numerous petitions calling for a referendum to rejoin the EU - Gives gov too much power
⤷ can decide when and what question
⤷ e.g. May denied Sturgeons call for another independence ref - MPs and Lords (experts) are the only ones capable of deciding
⤷ voters tend to think with themselves in mind, not the bigger picture
What are the 4 types of electoral system?
FPTP
SV
AMS
STV
What is FPTP?
- An MP per constituency (around 75,000 people)
- Most votes wins
- Voters have no say in the candidates
What are the cons of FPTP?
Safe seats
- unlikely to change seats
- causes low turnout as most of the voters cannot influence the election
- takes up 60% of seats
- 247 seats have. ot changed in the last 50 years, 111 in te past 100
⤷ e.g. 2017 - Liverpool Walton labour 86%, cons 9%
⤷ e.g. 2019 - Richmond 64% sunak, 16% lab
Marginal seats
- seats wo with less than 10% margin
- means their votes are worth more than safe seats
- causes parties to direct their funding and time into those areas
- also means that more of the electorate is ignored
⤷ e.g. 2019 - 141 marginal seats
Wasted votes
⤷ 2019 - 22m
Tactical voting
Why is FPTP good?
- Easy to understand
- Quick
- Usually gives a strong single-party gov
⤷ coaltions are weak and slow - Close MP-constituents relationship
⤷ regular surgeries - Keeps out extremists
- MPs held accountable
- AV ref failed
Why is FPTP bad?
- Unrepresentative
- Wasted votes
- Inequal worth of seats
- Supports two-party system
- 2010 and 2017 no majority
- MPs elected without majority support
How does the supplementary vote work?
- Single member constituencies
- 2 votes
⤷ 1st pref, 2nd pref - Need over 50% to win
⤷ if none get 50%, top 2 candidates remain and their votes redistributed based on 2nd pref - Candidate with most 1st and 2nd pref wins
When is SV used?
Mayoral elections
⤷ e.g. 2017 - Andy Burnham (Manchester) won with 63% in first round
Police Crime Commisioners
Why is SV good?
- Encourages campaigning to more people
- Limits extremism
- Less wasted votes
- Based on majorities
Why is SV bad?
- Two-party system still
- Doesn’t guarantee a majority
How does the single transferable vote work?
- Multimember constituencies
- Constituents rank their preference, as many or few as they wish
- Candidates elected if they meet the quota
⤷ quota decided by the stroop formula - Votes are counted according to first preferences and if any candidate achieves the quota their additional votes are counted according to second preference etc
Where is the STV used?
NI Assembly
- 18 multimember constituencies, each with 5 Assembly members
- Each party puts up to 5 candidates per constituency
- If any seats are unfilled the candidate with the lowest votes is eliminated and their votes are transferred to their second choice and so on
Local elections in Scotland and NI
How is STV more proportional?
NI Assembly 2017
DUP
⤷ 31% of seats, 28% 1st pref
Sinn Fein
⤷ 30% of seats, 28% 1st pref
SDLP
⤷ 14% of seats, 12% 1st pref
UUP
⤷ 11% of seats, 13% 1st pref
Alliance
⤷ 9% of seats, 9% 1st pref
Green
⤷ 2% of seats, 2% 1st pref
65% turnout
Why is STV good?
- Decent turnout
- More proportional
- More choice
- Fewer wasted votes
- No safe seats
- No tactical voting
Why is STV bad?
- Complicated ballot = accidental wasted votes
⤷ 2011 - twice as many spoilt papers than FPTP
⤷ 12,000 - Unstable gov as coalition is promoted
⤷ gov shutdown 2022-24 - Takes longer to get results
How does the Additional Member System work?
- Portion of seats through FPTP, rest through a closed party list
- Some members have a constituency =, others don’t
- Everyone has 2 votes
⤷ one for candidate, one for party
What is a closed party list?
- Voters vote for a list of candidates proposed by a party
- Based on the proportion of votes, they will be given a number of seats from a large multimember constituency
- Order of candidates is determined by the party
Where is AMS used?
Scottish Parliament
⤷ 73 for FPTP
⤷ 56 list system
Welsh Assembly
⤷ 40 for FPTP
⤷ 20 list system
How is AMS good?
- More proportional
- More choice
- Keeps MP-Constituency link
- Helps smaller parties
How is AMS bad?
- Overly complex
⤷ causes lower turnout
⤷ 2022 Scotland - 44%, when Parliament was 67% - Still used FPTP so dominant party system promoted
⤷ SNP dominates most years
⤷ 2022 Wales: Labour 67% seats with 40% votes
How does the Alternative Vote work?
- Rank as many candidates as the voter wants
- If 1st pref wins 50% they win
- If noone gets 50%, fewest 1st pref votes is eliminated and 2nd set of votes are combined and so on
When is AV used?
HC committees
Lord Speaker
