Electoral systems

Question 1

What is a plurality?

Answer 1

The winning candidate receives more votes than any other candidate but does not receive a majority

Question 2

What is a majority?

Answer 2

The winning candidate receives 50% + 1 of the vote

Question 3

What are the main features of FPTP? (5)

Answer 3

1. Winner’s bonus
2. Discriminates against small parties
3. Bias towards major parties
4. Two-party system
5. Single-party government

Question 4

What is an example of winner’s bonus?

Answer 4

Conservatives won an extra 40 seats despite a fall in the total vote share in 1983

Question 5

What is an example of discrimination against parties with widespread support?

Answer 5

UKIP won 12.6% of the national vote but only won 1 seat in 2015

Question 6

Why is it important for a party to have concentrated support under FPTP?

Answer 6

Without concentration support, a party may garner many votes but fail to win a plurality in individual constituency contests, hence struggling to win seats

Question 7

What is an example of discrimination against smaller parties?

Answer 7

Liberal Democrats and Greens struggle to win seats

Question 8

What is an example of UK’s two-party system?

Answer 8

Labour and Conservative won over 80% of the national vote in 2017

Question 9

How many times has the UK not had a single-party government?

Answer 9

3 times, including the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010-2015 and Theresa May’s minority government in 2017

Question 10

What is a safe seat? Example?

Answer 10

A seat in which the incumbent party wins by a large margin, and hence it is unlikely to change to another party in the next election.
Eg. Tewkesbury is a Conservative safe seat

Question 11

What is a marginal seat? Example?

Answer 11

A seat in which the incumbent party wins by a small margin, and hence it is likely to change to another party in the next election
Eg. Conservatives won by a 3% margin in Cheltenham

Question 12

What is a winner’s bonus?

Answer 12

When the proportion of seats won by the governing party is exaggerated in comparison the proportion of the vote share

Question 13

How does FPTP operate?

Answer 13

The candidate with the most number of votes wins the seat

Question 14

What are the advantages of FPTP? (4)

Answer 14

1. Strong constituency link
2. Keeps out extremist parties
3. Single-party government
4. Simple, quick and cheap to administer

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of FPTP? (7)

Answer 15

1. Disproportionate outcome
2. Biased towards major parties + discriminates against small parties/parties with widespread support
3. Votes not of equal value/wasted votes
4. May induce tactical voting
5. Safe seats and electoral deserts
6. Plurality rather than majority
7. No longer serves its purpose well (growing multi-party system)

Question 16

What is an example of FPTP successfully keeping out extremists parties?

Answer 16

Britain First and the BNP have never won any seats in Parliament

Question 17

What is an example of tactical voting?

Answer 17

Anti-Conservative tactical voting contributed to Labour’s landslide victory in 1997

Question 18

What is an example of wasted votes under FPTP?

Answer 18

50% of all votes cast in the 2015 GE were wasted

Question 19

What is an example demonstrating the prominence of safe seats in the UK?

Answer 19

Over 220 have not changed parties since 1950

Question 20

What is an electoral desert?

Answer 20

Where parties do not put candidates up for election as it is highly unlikely that they would win, hence limiting voter choice

Question 21

What are two examples demonstrating the prominence of plurality in Parliament?

Answer 21

1. Over two-thirds of MPs did not win by an absolute majority in 2015
2. The last time a governing party won by the popular vote was in 1935

Question 22

What is an example of a growing multi-party system in the UK?

Answer 22

Parties other than Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative received a record high of 25% of the vote in 2015

Question 23

What are two examples of disproportionate outcome?

Answer 23

1. Labour enjoyed a parliamentary majority of 66 with only 35% of the vote (historic low) in 2005
2. Conservatives won more seats than Labour despite receiving fewer votes in 1951

Question 24

What is proportional representation?

Answer 24

When the proportion of seats won by a party is roughly equal to the proportion of vote share

Question 25

How does supplementary voting operate?

Answer 25

- voters record a first preference and second preference for candidates - if any candidate obtains a majority, they are elected - if no candidate has been elected, all but the top two candidates are eliminated - second preferences of losing candidates are redistributed between the final two candidates - the candidate with most votes win

Question 26

Where does supplementary voting take place?

Answer 26

Mayoral elections

Question 27

What is an example of the supplementary vote?

Answer 27

Sadiq Khan won the London Mayoral Elections in 2016, with over 40% of the vote share after round 1, and nearly 2/3 of the vote share after round 2

Question 28

What are the advantages of supplementary voting? (7)

Answer 28

1. Strong constituency link 2. Keeps out extremist parties 3. Single-party government 4. Simple, cheap and quick to administer 5. Candidates can claim to have a broad level of support (increases legitimacy) 6. Candidate can win by a majority 7. Supporters of small parties can use their first preference vote for the small party candidate and then use their second vote to choose a major party candidate

Question 29

What are the disadvantages of supplementary voting? (4)

Answer 29

1. Not proportional representation 2. Biased towards major parties 3. Votes for candidates not included as the top two candidates are wasted 4. Candidate may not win by a majority of first preference votes (hence not most popular but least unpopular)

Question 30

How does single transferable voting operate?

Answer 30

- voters rank candidates in preferential order (can vote for up to 6 candidates) - droop formula used to calculate quota: total number of votes divided by (seats + 1), and then + 1 - if any candidate exceeds the quota, they are elected - second preference votes are scaled down to the size of excess votes for the successful candidate and redistributed - if no candidate has reached the quota, the lowest-placing candidate is eliminated and their second preference votes redistributed - process is repeated until all seats have been won * multi-member constituency

Question 31

Where does single transferable vote take place?

Answer 31

Northern Ireland Assembly

Question 32

What are the advantages of single transferable voting? (5)

Answer 32

1. Proportional representation 2. Free from bias 3. Votes of roughly equal value 4. Voters can discern between candidates (and even candidates from the same party) 5. Candidates are likely to achieve over 50% of the vote

Question 33

What are the disadvantages of single transferable voting? (5)

Answer 33

1. Weak constituency link 2. Extremist parties may gain power 3. Coalition governments 4. Expensive to count 5. Smaller parties can have disproportionately greater influence as they hold the balance of power

Question 34

How does the additional member system operate?

Answer 34

- 2/3 of representatives elected by FPTP and 1/3 elected by closed regional list - if a party has a lower proportion of seats won compared to their share of the vote, they receive more 'top-up' representatives from the closed regional list and vice versa

Question 35

Where is the additional member system used?

Answer 35

Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, and Greater London Assembly

Question 36

What are the advantages of using the additional member system? (7)

Answer 36

1. Strong constituency link 2. Simple, cheap and quick to administer 3. Proportional representation 4. Free from bias toward any party 5. Less wastage of votes 6. Split-ticket voting: voters can vote for different parties through the different systems 7. Can be used to improve social representation of Parliament by 'zipping'

Question 37

What are the disadvantages of using the additional member system? (6)

Answer 37

1. Extremist parties can gain power 2. Coalition government 3. Votes are still wasted through FPTP 4. Creates two tiers of MPs 5. Small parties are still under-represented due to small number of 'top-up' members added 6. Voters cannot discern between candidates from the same party