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
What are majoritarian election systems?
A system in which the winning candidate must secure an absolute majority of the vote
What was Jenkins commission?
Established in 1997 to investigate and recommend an alternative to FPTP
They wanted a system that gave a broadly proportional result, produced a stable government, gave voters a greater choice and maintained the link betw MPs and constituencies
Where is av used
Labour and liberal dem party leadership election
By elections to replace hereditary peers in the HoL
How is av similar to FPTP
Maintains single member constituencies and produces a disproportional result
How does it differ from FPTP?
Using av voters can number the candidates in order of preference
With av the winnings candidate needs a majority of the vote
Candidates are eliminated if none have over 50% of votes and second choice votes are added until one has majority
How would av have influenced 2015 general election!,
More disproportional result with tories winning a larger majority of seats
Advantages of av?
MPs must win majority
MPs will campaign more broadly to appeal to more voters for their 2nd/3rd choice preference voice
The system retains the same mp constituency links (keeping same constituency boundaries.. no need to redraw them) while giving constituents greater choice
Requirement for majority may reduce number of ‘safe seats’ and reduce tactical voting due to 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices still impacting result
Disadvantages of av?
Not proportional
Might elect the least unpopular candidate rather than the most popular… i.e. Someone who picked up lots of 2nd and 3rd votes
Might lead to more coalitions as 3rd parties could win more seats
Makes votes unequal as some will be counted more than others: supporters of unpopular candidates who are eliminated first will have their votes counted more
Ranking system is prone to so called ‘donkey voting’ - ie voters vote for candidates in the order they appear on the ballot
What does sv stand for?
Supplementary vote
How does sv work?
When used?
Used to elect English mayors
Instead of numbering candidates, people make a first and second choice only
If no one wins majority of the vote initially, every candidate apart from the top 2 are all elongated the same time and all the votes are redistributed at once (rather than in stages)
The winner is which ever has the most votes
Advantages of sv?
MPs need broader support to achieve their plurality of votes and thus will campaign more broadly to appeal to more voters
Keep the existing constituency boundaries…no need to redraw them
Keeps the clear link between mp and constituents
Fairly easy to understand
Disadvantages of sv?
Not proportional
Doesn’t ensure winner has a majority of over 50% support
Voters have tongues who the top two candidates will be to ensure that their votes are not wasted… encourages tactical voting
Many wasted votes: many votes in first round end up not transferring and being counted in the second round
What are proportional election systems?
Electoral systems that distribute seats according to how many votes they get
Where is closed party list system used?
British elections to eu
How does closed party list work?
Vote for parties rather than candidates
Country is divided into large sections and thus all vote for parties (they are delegated certain number of seats within them)
Party leaders draw up list
Dividing numbers of votes party gets by number of seats+1
Advantages of cps system?
Highly proportional
Every vote has equal value- no wasted votes or safe seats
V simple ballot paper.. simply choose 1 party
The party list of candidates could theoretically be structured to increase the diversity of representatives (e.g. Fill quotas)
Disadvantages of cpls?
The clear link between each mo and constituency is broken
Very limited vote choice- no say over MPs, just parties
Great power to party leaders who determine the priority order- might be harsh on independent minded MPs
Likely to result in weaker coalition govs
What method of voting does cpls use?
D’hondt method
What does stv stand force
Single transferable vote
How does stv work
Voters put numbers next to candidates in order of preference
To get elected candidates need to reach a set share of the votes determined on number of positions to be filled
Each voter gets one vote that can be transferred from their first preference to their second preference, so if ur preferred candidate has no chance of being elected/ has enough votes already, ur vote is transferred to your second choice candidate
Quota = (valid votes/no of seats+1) +1
Over quota means ur automatically elected
Excess votes are redistributed : surplus votes/quota
Candidates are eliminated if they can’t get over figure
Advantages of stv?
Much more proportional than FPTP… but less proportional than CPL
Gives voters greater choice
Fewer wasted votes (excess and losing votes are still counted)
Fairer to third parties as eliminates safe seats and need for tactical voting
Gives constituents a choice of MPs to contact after elections
Disadvantages of stv?
Can lead to alphabet voting: voters won’t know much about each candidate so might just see first candidate of party they like and will be vote for them: candidates placed higher on the ballot received 9.9% more votes than lower placed rivals ( people select candidates based on order they appear in ballot )
More complicated system that takes longer to understand and be counted.. therefore winners announced later
Ends the single mp constituency link
Ballot papers + long and confusing
Opposite of a safe seat?
Marginal seat
How many safe seats in 2015?
According to the Electoral Reform Soc there are 368
Egs of safe seats
Cameron’s ‘Witney’= Tory since 1910
David Miliband’s ‘Doncaster North’= Labour since 1918
Alphabet voting?
Voting for a candidate in the order they appear in the list-
Electoral reform Soc claimed candidates placed higher on the ballot paper receive 9.9% more vote, on average
What is a hung parliament?
No political party or existing coalition has enough seats to form an absolute majority of members in parliament
