i) Elections

Question 1

What are elections?

Answer 1

An opportunity for citizens to cast a vote for their elected representatives and a way in which governments are held accountable and chosen

Question 2

What is an electoral system?

Answer 2

A process by which votes cast can be translated into elected officials or seats

Question 3

What is a mandate?

Answer 3

The authority to act on behalf of a constituency as its representative

Question 4

What is legitimacy?

Answer 4

The rightful holding of political authority, usually gained through wining a free and fair election

Question 5

What are the functions of elections?

Answer 5

• Choosing a representative
• Choosing a government
• Giving legitimacy, authority, and a mandate to a government
• Holding politicians accountable
• Education

Question 6

What is a majoritarian electoral system + example?

Answer 6

• 50% + 1 to win
• Can refer to number of votes needed to win a seat or refer to the number of seats needed to form a government
• Produces a two-party system
• SV

Question 7

What is a plurality electoral system + example?

Answer 7

• Having more votes than everyone else but not having a majority yet still winning
• No majority is required to win a seat
• Produces a two-party system
• FPTP

Question 8

What is a proportional electoral system + examples?

Answer 8

• Allocation of seats that roughly reflects the percentage of votes gained by a party
• Produces a multi-party system
• AMS and STV

Question 9

For individual electoral systems – see flashcards

Answer 9

:)

Question 10

What are the advantages of FPTP?

Answer 10

• Produces strong, stable governments which allows for a strong mandate and can be easily held accountable
• Highly representative as produces a strong MP-constituency link
• Chance of minor parties being elected is unlikely and therefore that extremists will not win seats (the Dutch PR system allowed the right-wing Party for Freedom to become 2nd largest party)
• Simple system that is easy to understand (68% supported it in 2011 referendum)

Question 11

What are the criticisms of FPTP?

Answer 11

• No majority required which weakens the mandate and raises questions over the legitimacy eg. In 2005 Blair won just 35% of the vote but gained 55% of the seats in the Commons “winners’ bonus”
• Not proportional as underrepresents smaller parties eg. UKIP won 12.5% of all votes but only one seat in 2015
• “Wasted votes”
• In 2015 half of all seats are “safe seats”