Electoral Systems

Question 1

What are the functions of General Elections?

Answer 1

• Representative Democracy
  Due to the impractical nature of direct democracy, representatives take decisions on their behalf thus passing on their authority to their representatives
• Participation
  For many it is their only form of political participation. It is vital that citizens do participate to ensure the public accountability of government and the legislature
  Whilst only 1.6% of the electorate belongs to one of the three main UK wide political parties, voter turnout in the 2015 election of David Cameron’s Conservative party was at 66.4%
• Legitimacy
  Elections provide a mandate. The winners in an election are granted democratic legitimacy, the political authority to carry out the political programme that they are proposing
  2017 Snap Election – Theresa May asked voters to give her an electoral mandate in order to secure her Conservative vision for Brexit

Question 2

Outline the features of FPTP?

Answer 2

• FPTP is a simple plurality system, the person with the largest number of votes in a constituency is elected. The party with the largest number of seats has the right to form a government. In 1951 and 1974, the party forming the government secured fewer votes than the main opposition party, suggesting that FPTP can distort voters’ wishes
• General elections are supposed to take place every 5 years as stipulated under the 2011 Fixed Term Parliament Act. However, Theresa May’s 2017 Snap election
• The average number of voters in a constituency is roughly 70,000 but there is considerable variation, with the size of constituencies regulated by the Boundary Commission. In 2005 the number of Scottish constituencies was reduced 72 to 59 to bring its representation more closely into lined with that of the rest of the UK

Question 3

Outline the features of AMS?

Answer 3

• Use in both the devolved Scottish and Welsh Assemblies. AMS was chosen as a compromise that would result in a broadly representative parliament but without involving such a radical change as STV, allowed Labour to remain the dominant force until 2007
• Seen as a compromise between FPTP and a proportional system, voters have two votes. The first is for a constituency representative, who is elected using FPTP and the second is for a party list and uses multi member regional constituencies
• In Scotland 73 seats are elected using the FPTP, while 56 seats are allocated using the party list system

Question 4

What are the advantages of AMS?

Answer 4

• The top up component introduces a proportional element, acting as a corrective to the FPTP element of the system which may neglect smaller parties. A calculation using the d’Hondt formula stipulates how many members a party should be allocated form the lists. In Scotland the Conservative Party won no seats in the 1997 general election under FPTP, but the list enabled the party to win 18 seats in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999
• The FPTP element maintains a strong link between the member and the constituency
• Electors have a wider choice than under FPTP; they can vote for a ‘split ticket’ if they wish, using their constituency vote to choose a particularly favourable representative from a party they wouldn’t normally relate to whilst using their top up vote to support the party they typically vote for

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of AMS?

Answer 5

• Smaller parties achieve less representation than under a fully proportional system. Particularly true in Wales where the small number of top seats has advantaged Labour where because of the extent they dominate the constituency seats, the top up seat results play little importance. In the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections, labour were the largest party with 29 seats despite only gaining 2 top up seats
• The level of proportionality is determined by the overall balance between list seats and constituency seats. In Scotland, list seats are distributed at the regional rather than national level, in multi member constituencies that each elect only 7 representatives. As a result of such at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP were able to win a majority of the seats despite winning only 44% of the list vote

Question 6

Outline the features of STV?

Answer 6

• Used in the Northern Ireland Assembly and Scottish Council Elections
• Uses multi member constituencies with voters numbering their choices preferentially: 1,2,3
• In order to be elected, a candidate needs to achieve a quota of first preference votes which is stipulated using the Droop formula
• Any candidate who obtains the necessary quota does not necessarily have a majority
• Any winners’ surplus votes are redistributed among the other candidates in proportion to the second preferences on the winning candidates’ ballot papers and so on until all seats are filled
• Was chosen for Northern Ireland after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement because it is a highly proportional system

Question 7

What are the advantages of STV?

Answer 7

• There is a close correlation between votes and seats. The first use of STV in Scottish Council Elections saw a dramatic change in the composition of local Scottish government. Labour lost a large number of councillors, falling from 509 in 2003 to 348 in 2007 with the SNP party becoming the largest party
• Voter choice is high meaning that it is possible to choose between candidates standing for the same party as well as between candidates from different parties
• As parties have an electoral incentive to present a balanced team of candidates in order to maximise the number of higher preferences that would go to their candidates, STV promotes the advancement of women and BAME candidates
• In the case of Northern Ireland, the ability to have a power sharing government with delegates from both unionist and nationalist communities has been significant in peace process

Question 8

What are the disadvantages of STV?

Answer 8

• In large multi member constituencies such as the Scottish Highlands, the link between the member and voters may be weak. Cited as one of the reasons for why STV should not be used for Scottish Elections by the Arbuthnott Commission
• The Northern Ireland executive was suspended for almost 5 years in 2002-2007 due to a breakdown in trust
  STV did not help the more centrist parties in the long term with the DUP and Sinn Fein dominating the Stormont since 2007 where they replaced the more moderate UUP and SDLP
• Prone to what has been labelled ‘donkey voting’ whereby voters vote for candidates in the order they appear on the ballot

Question 9

Outline the features of SV?

Answer 9

• Used in London Mayor Elections and Police
• Each voter is allowed a 1st and 2nd preference vote with any candidate who gains more than 50% of 1st preference votes being automatically elected
• If this does not occur, all candidates bar the top two are eliminated with a combined score of both 1st and 2nd preference votes producing one overall winner
• Is deemed preferable because it prevents candidates with a ‘lowest common denominator’ second or third choice from winning and thus provides a winner with a clear mandate

Question 10

What are the advantages of SV?

Answer 10

• It ensures broad support for the winner. Sadiq Khan, elected Mayor of London in May 2016, has the largest personal mandate of any elected politician in British history after receiving 44.2% of the 1st preference vote and 65.5% of the 2nd preference vote
• It has allowed some independent candidates to win
  For example 12 out of 40 police and crime commissioners were independents in the 2012 contest
• Unlike AV, where there is no restriction on 2nd preferences, SV stipulates that only 2nd preference votes granted to one of the top two candidates on the first ballot are eligible
  Means that smaller or more extreme parties cannot boost their performance in this way

Question 11

What are the disadvantages of SV?

Answer 11

• Voters need to be able to identify the likely top two candidates in order to have influence over the outcome. Whilst this may be largely clear in the London Mayoral elections, it is not so evident in others
• SV does reduce a potentially large field of candidates down to a choice between two parties; 1st ballot votes cast for small parties are significant only for the 2nd preferences attached to them. As a result of such SV elections normally see lower voter turnout such as in the case of the London Mayoral Elections where turnout ranged between 34.4% to 38.1% excluding the 2008 London Election

Question 12

Describe the use of referendums in the UK?

Answer 12

• The first national referendum was held in June 1975, when Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson gave the electorate a vote on whether they wanted to stay in the European Economic Community
• Since the election of New Labour in 1997, there has been a growing use of referendum. 1997 Referendums for devolution in Scotland and Wales + 1998 Good Friday Referendum.
• Expectation that a referendum should be called when an important, possibly irreversible constitutional change is contemplated
• Possibly the most far reaching change to the UK constitution, the decisions to leave the European Union, would not have occurred had it been left to parliament. Brexit Referendum Result of June 2016: 48.1% voted to remain, 51.9% voted to leave