Key Terms Flashcards
Winners bonus
The share of seats that the first placed party wins in excess of its share of the vote under FPTP. Exaggerates the support received by the most popular party, giving it more seats than is proportional to the number of votes it received, thus boosting its majority in parliament.
Minority government
A government consisting of members of one political party which does not have an absolute majority of seats.
Coalition government
A government consisting of 2 or more political parties usually with an absolute majority of seats in parliament, formed after an agreement on policy and ministerial posts.
Majority government
A government consisting of members of one political party which has an absolute majority of seats
Wasted vote
A vote for a losing candidate in a single member constituency, or a vote for a winning candidate that was surplus to the plurality required for victory
Tactical voting
Voting for a candidate most likely to defeat the voters least favored candidate
Proportional representation (PR)
An electoral system using multi-member constituencies in which an electoral formula is used to match the percentage of seats won by each party to the percentage of votes they won.
Legitimacy
Rightfullness: a political system is legitimate when it is based on the consent of the people. Agreement to laws to
Mandate
An authoritative instruction; the doctrine of the mandate gives the party that wins a general election the authority to implement its manifesto commitments
Manifesto
Political parties set out policy programmes at an election
Constituency
A geographical area that elects one or more representatives to a legislative assembly.
By-election
A one-off election that takes place in an individual constituency when a vacancy arises between scheduled elections
Majoritarian system an electoral in which the candidate with the most votes in a single member constituency wins.
