Electoral systems

Question 1

Summarize the key term definitions & key workings of FPTP

Answer 1

• The First Past the Post system is used in the UK for general elections and is the main electoral system. It can be described as ‘plurality in single member constituencies’.
• The UK is divided into 650 constituencies and are all approximately an equal size. The average adult population of a constituency is 75,000 with varying geographical sizes. Tightly populated London constituencies are clearly much smaller than sparsely populated constituencies in the highlands of Scotland.
• Plurality, is where to win a seat in a constituency is it only necessary to win more votes than any of the other candidates. A plurality should be seen in contrast to absolute majority.
• An absolute majority is when a candidate wins at least 50% of the available votes

Question 2

FIVE effects of FPTP on parliamentary representation

Answer 2

Importance of concentrated support
Votes per successful candidate
Safe seats
Marginal seats
By elections

Question 3

Summary of main features of FPTP

Answer 3

• Each constituency returns a single Member of Parliament, who can represent the whole constituency
• It is a simple system and voters can understand exactly what they are voting for
• It gives an advantage to parties that have concentrated support in certain regions
• It is a disadvantage for parties whose support is widely dispersed
• It favours the large parties and prevents serious challenges from small parties
• There is a ‘winners bonus’ because the biggest party tends to win more than its proportionate share of the vote. In 2017 the conservatives won 42.4% of the vote, which was converted into 48.9% of the share in the seats.
• Due to favouring the larger parties, an outright winner tends to be produced - have an overall majority in the House of Commons. Although, in recent elections (2010, 2015 and 2017) the system has failed to produce a government majority suggesting this characteristic may be changing.
• FPTP is associated with a single party majority government, even though in 2017 it produced a minority single party government.

Question 4

Outline arguments in favour of electoral reform

Answer 4

More choice - (AV, STV)

Equal votes - Value of votes would largely increase, especially with list systems

Candidates - STV (open list), choice between candidates of the same party

Representation - more representative of political opinion, list systems are more accurate

More democratic - The current system puts to much power in the hands of a single party, reform = no overall majority, forcing big parties to compromise and go into coalition, prevents to much power in too few hands, no garbage of majority in the HoC = more influence for MPs = more accountable government.

Voter turnout - fairer system = more respect for the political system, reduce disengagement, encourage higher levels of voting and participation.

More dynamic - smaller and newer parties would have more opportunity to establish themselves.

Modernity - every other country in the EU uses a different system, Britain is out of step, other European countries who have a superior record to Britain

Other places - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have PR, it’s produced a more open, representative political system

Question 5

Outline arguments against electoral reform

Answer 5

Referendum - the AV referring 2011 campaigners alerted many to the drawbacks of reform, the ‘no’ campaign was highly effective

2010 election - the hung parliament and coalition government may have put people off, reduced appetite for change

Liberal Democrats - have become unpopular by 2011, support for their main policy electoral reform has declined

Tradition - The current government aren’t in favour of electoral reform, it is working, the public aren’t complaining (possibly because they don’t understand)

Question 6

Summarise six arguments for retaining FPTP for general elections

Answer 6

• Accountability of the MP is clear to the electors, you vote for an MP not a party so you can hold them directly accountable
• Systems tends to produce a clear winner in a general election = a single party with a parliamentary majority. This helps to promote a strong, stable and decisive government.
• Helps to prevent smaller parties breaking into the system. This is desirable if the smaller parties are extremists. However this can be bad as people have still voted for them thus there would still be people who aren’t represented. Just because they are voting the extremes doesn’t mean they dont have the right to be represented in parliament.
• FPTP has stood the test of time. Abandoning the system would be a dangerous step into the unknown.
  A switch to a different system might have unintended consequences
• In 2011, a referendum decisively rejected a proposal for a change in the system
  In elections with complex issues such as Brexit, the issue was combines with other social and economic matters

Question 7

Summarise six arguments against retaining FPTP for general elections

Answer 7

• Overall outcome is not proportional or fair. Some parties win more seats than their support warrants, while others win less than they deserve
• Many votes are effectively wasted because they can have no impact on the outcome in safe seats. Many seats become part of party ‘heartlands’, where there is no possibility of a realistic challenge from other parties. It also produces ‘electoral deserts’ where there is effectively no party competition
• Encourages some voters to vote tactically and so abandon the party they really want to support
• Prevents new parties breaking into the system and so produces political ‘inertia’ = remains unchanged.
• Since 1945 it has always resulted in the winning party securing much less than half the popular vote. In 2015 the conservative party was elected with just 36.9% of the popular vote; 61.3% of people voted against the governing party. In 2005 Labour won the election with a majority of 66 from only 35.2% of the popular vote. This calls into question the legitimacy of the government.
• FPTP always used to deliver governments with a majority of seats in the Commons. Although in 2015 and 2017 the system failed to do this, returning governments without an overall majority. Its failing to achieve the main objective suggesting that it should be replaced by a different system.

Question 8

summarise the three types of electoral system other than plurality = FPTP

Answer 8

Proportional; produce an outcome where the competing parties are awarded seats in the legislature in proportion to the votes cast for them, exactly or approximately. A directly proportional system would give 40% of the seats to a party that won 40% of the votes. Sweden(3%), Israel(1%), Netherlands(1%) threshold

Majority; used to elect a select candidate, eg a president or mayor. They are designed to ensure that the winner can claim the support of an overall majority of voters.

Hybrid; a mixture of two systems. The main example is the additional member system = a mix of FPTP and a proportional system. This is used in Scotland and Wales, and Germany