Electoral Systems (NOT EXAM) Flashcards
Reasons for holding an election
- accountability
- Choosing an elected representative government
- Legitimising Political Power (manifesto is voted upon which gives gov a mandate)
- Limiting power of unelected representatives
- Development of political policy.
- means of representation and participation, pillars of
democracy.
Describe the majoritarian system and which vote uses it
need a 50%+1 majority to win. (SV)
Describe the Plurality system + eg
Having more votes than anyone but not needing a majority (FPTP)
Describe the Proportional system + eg
allocates seats in a manner that reflects the percentage of voters gained by the party. Could produce a multiparty government (STV+AMS)
Where is FPTP used?
Westminster Parliament and the local english and welsh governments, plurality system.
What type of system is FPTP and what does this mean?
It is a plurality system which means each person can only vote for one candidate.
The candidate who gets the most votes (plurality) wins.
Also known as winner takes it all as it doesn’t need to be 50% for a victory. Could be very close and the one with the most votes still gets the whole seat.
Favours parties with a reasonable concentration across a wide geographical area.
What is the ‘winners bonus’? WITH AN EG from 2015
if a seat is one with just a small majority, they still receive the whole seat which means they are over-rewarded.
For example, in 2015 the conservatives won 37% of national vote but 51% of seats.
However close the vote is, winner gets all and loser gets nothing.
How does FPTP work?
- UK is divided into 650 Constituencies
- One vote per person
- They win if they have the highest number of votes in the constituency.
- Parties looking to win 326/650 seats.
What is a safe seat? and example
Constituency regarded as being secure in an election.
Eg in 2017 Labour retained Liverpool Walton with 85.7% of the vote.
What is a marginal/ swing seat? and example
Constituency is one with a small majority and could easily change hands in an election. They are often targeted more in campaigning.
Eg 2017 SNP won East Fife by only 2 votes.
-In the 2019 General Election, 26 seats were won with majorities of less than 2%.
Advantages of FPTP (5) + 1 eg
- Creates Stable, strong governments who can make cohesive decisions. (unlikely to form coalition.) Strong Single party governments in 2001, 2005 (Labour)
- MPs can have a close relationship with constituents.
- Stops small extremist parties getting into power.e.g. UKIP, got 3.9 million votes in 2015 but only 1 seat
- Simple and easy to operate - less spoiled ballots.
- FPTP already won in a referendum.
Disadvantages of FPTP (8)
Inc Green party and 2015 conservatives winning example
creates a 2-party system. Eg. Green Party 860,000 votes to win a seat but only 38,000 for Conservatives.
Gov non-proportional. Conservatives won 330 seats with only 37% of vote in 2015.
safe seats.
Lots of tactical voting takes place.
Most MPs do not get 50% of the vote in their seat and therefore are not representing their constituency.
- Has produced both a coalition government in 2010 and a Confidence and Supply in 2017.
- lack of voter choice.
Where is Supplementary voting used and what type of system is it?
Used in mayoral elections, police and crime commissioners etc.
It is a majoritarian system.
How does SV work?
- Voters have two votes 1st and 2nd.
- If candidate wins 50% of 1st place they are automatically win.
- If not, everyone but top two candidates from that round are eliminated and the 2nd place on their votes is counted and added to 2 remaining candidates.
- Results are calculated and one with the most first and second wins.
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2016 Mayoral election results
Sadiq Khan First round (44.2%), Second round (wins 56.8%)
Zac Goldsmith First round (35%), Second round (loses 43.2%)
Green party eliminated in first round and their second place votes counted.
Sadiq Khan wins.
Advantages of SV (6)
- Encourages moderate campaigning as getting second votes is important
- Relatively simple system
- Most likely and most easily replace FPTP
- All MPs would have the support of a majority of their voters (Khan - largest political mandate in UK History)
- Reduces tactical voting as you can still vote for first choice candidate without wasting your vote.
- Ensures single member constituencies and therefore good MP-constituent links.
Disadvantages of SV (4)
- Someone who won the first round could end up not winning.
- Promotes candidates from main three parties, Still won’t value small parties.
- Voters may need to vote tactically. If there are 3 strong candidates’ voters may need to guess who will make the cut
- Anyones whos second pref was not front runners vote isnt counted at all
Where is Additional member system used and what kind of system?
Used in devolved regions of Scotland and Wales and for London Assembly.
Proportional system. a hybrid system which combines FPTP and list system.
Explain the hybrid of proportional and list system?
Proportional aspect means that parties are allocated seats in proportion to the votes they gain.
List system means voters can list candidates in order of their importance.
In closed list elects have no say over the order of the candidates on the list.
Explain how AMS works?
- Voters have 2 separate votes. The first is used to choose a member for their local constituency (FPTP) and the second is the other is used to select a political party using the party list. These are known as ‘top up’ members.
- This gives you 2 types of representative, one local and one Regional. The party list element is used to top up the constituency vote, making the overall result more proportionate.
Scottish parliament elections turnout 2019
Turnout in Scotland was the highest of any UK country .(68.1%)
However, this may be to try and avoid brexit (independence - SNP)
Advantages of AMS (7)
and 2 EGs
- Best bits of FPTP (rep link to area, high accountability.)
It is proportional which reduces wasted votes.
- Wider voter choice.
- Creates governments with more broad popularity.
- Greater representation which increases turnout.
- Encourages more descriptive representation. Parties can put women/ethnic minorities higher up the list.
- EG. In 1997 Labour made an all-female list
Disadvantages of AMS (6)
- Creates coalition governments a lot.
- More complicated and voters sometimes think their vote is mathematically manipulated
- Constituency round still uses FPTP so has disadvantages
- Creates two tier representatives, this can cause tension and blur accountability
- Party have majority of control as they create the list - not fully elected.
- Smaller parties are still under-represented
