Electoral Systems Flashcards
Functions of elections?
Form governments
Ensure representation
Uphold legitimacy
Forming govs?
Elections serve to transfer power from one government to the next
Under FPTP every election since 1945- except that if 74 and 2010- has produced a single majority left
Ensuring representation?
2 types of representation?
Elections = vital chance of communication between the government and the people
2 types: link betw MPs and constituencies- helps ensure that constituents concerns are properly addressed and articulated, general link betw gov of day and public opinion (elections make politicians and gov publicly accountable and ultimately, removable
Why are elections not necessarily effective at ensure representation?
4-5 year electoral terms weaken link betw voters and representative
5 year fixed parliaments are longer than the equivalent in many liberal democracies
Debate re how elected politicians should ‘represent’ their electors: competing theories about representation
Why are elections not necessarily effective at forming gov?
Elections aren’t always successful at forming government - when proportional voting systems are used it is less likely that a single winning party will emerge
May 2010 demonstrates that this can also happen in majoritarian electoral systems
Upholding legitimacy?
And why is it important?
Elections maintain legitimacy (important as legitimacy provides key to main range of political stability) … it ensures that citizens recognise that they have an obligation to obey the law and respect their system of government
Elections uphold legitimacy by ritualistic means through which citizens ‘consent’ to being governed via the act of going. Elections Hereford confer democratic legitimacy in govs
Problems with upholding legitimacy?
Uk elections may not be effective in upholding legitimacy: low turnout rates in general elections since 2001 have cast doubt on uk political system : voter apathy may be a way in which disillusioned citizens are withholding consent
Since the 70s the falling support for the 2 main governing parties indicate declining popular satisfaction with the uk political system
What is a constituency?
How many does uk have?
Geographical territories with approx equal number of votes
650 in uk
How does FPTP work?
Whatever candidate wins the most votes from the constituents wins the seat (single plurality needed)
1 PERSON 1 VOTE
Problems with FPTP single plurality
MPs without majorities have less of an mandate
Minority mandate - mp has support of less than half of their constituents
In 2010 only 32.3% of MPs had majority mandates
How is winning party selected under FPTP?
Parties require a majority of 650 seats to form a majority government
2010 = hung parliament : no party has won enough seats to form a gov… conservative lib dem coalition gave a majority
Outcome in FPTP is usually _____
And stats
DISPROPORTIONAL (% of seats party recurve is not equal to % of votes they got)
Eg in 2015 tories won 50.8% seats but got 36.9% vote , UKIP won 0.2% seats but got 12.6% vote (won only 1 seat for 3.8 mil votes they got)
Within Scotland SNP= 56 seats =1.5 mil vote
What’s as important in strength of party suooort in FPTP?
Distribution
What’s a marginal seat?
Safe seat?
What does this lead to?
Marginal- close contest for seat
Safe- obvious winner (lots of wasted votes) : in 2015 election the electoral reform society predicted the outcome of 368 safe seats and only got 5 wrong …
Parties will spend more time/money on marginal seats… therefore some constituencies have a much larger voice than others: Luton south = £3.07/vote cast vs Bootle = 14p/ vote cast
What’s tactical voting?
Voting for 1 of the two candidates likely to win rather than one u prefer (bad for small partites)… ukip supporters will be told to vote tories to keep labour out
Pros of FPTP?
Votes are simple to count and thus don’t cost much to administer
It doesn’t take very long to count all the items and work who’s won- results can be declared a few hours after polls close
The votes can clearly express a view on which party they think should form the next government
It tends to produce a two party system which will therefore tend to produce a single party governments which don’t have to rely on support from other parties to pass legislation
Parties have to appeal to centre ground to win elections so it encourages centrist policies
Cons of FPTP?
Reps can get elected on tiny announces of public support as it doesn’t matter by how much they win only that they get a plurality. Eg in south Belfast the SDLP 2015 candidate got just 24.5% of vote
Encourages tactical voting as many candidates don’t vote for who they like the most but against the candidate they most dislike
Majority of votes are wasted
Rather than allocating seats in line with support it rewards supported concentrated in geographical area
MPs are elected with differing levels of support and thus it is possible for the party that wins the most seats to not be the party that won the most votes
Small constituencies lead to proliferation of safe seats- this disenfranchises a regions voters and leads to those regions being ignored when framing policy
Also means ambitious politicians from the area will move away from home if they want influence in their party
With small constituency sizes, the way boundaries are draw can have important effects on the election result- encourages attempts at gerrymandering
