Other electoral systems Flashcards
What 3 things does STV do?
- improves voter choice
- achieves clear proportionality
- eliminates wasted votes
What is a multi-member constituency?
larger constituencies which return a number of representatives to an elected legislature
What are 2 negatives of STV?
- takes a long time to finalise results
- lack of intelligibility could undermine confidence in the system
What are the details of the 2011 Northern Irish Assembly which resulted in more proportional electoral outcome?
Sinn Fein secured 27% of seats
DUP won 35% of seats
What did academics from London and Essex find happened to the number of seats won by Labour in the 1997 general election using a range of 8,000 voters using STV?
The model suggested Labour would have had a majority of 25 under STV rather than the 179 won under FPTP
What type of voting occurs under a Hybrid system?
AMS , Additional Member System
What is the purpose of a Hybrid system? (3)
- To retain the strong MP-constituency link
- majority government
- More voter choice
What are 3 examples of hybrid systems?
- Additional member system (AMS)
- FPTP TU
- Alternate vote plus (AV+)
Where is the hybrid system of AMS used?
Germany
What is AMS? (2)
50% of seats are elected under FPTP
-remainder are distributed proportionately but is a 5% threshold which parties much cross before they are entitled to a seat
Where is FPTP-TU used in UK? (3)
Scottish Parliament
Welsh Assembly
Greater London Authority
Who proposed the AV+ hybrid system ?
Jenkins Commission
What do some people argue the system of AMS could result in?
a two-class system of representatives
What is an advantage of the system AMS?
It tends to result in a more stable government
What was the outcome of the Labour-Liberal Democratic coalition formed in Scotland from 1999 to 2007?
- introduced free long-term nursing care for the elderly
- abolished top-up fees
- introduced a more effective Freedom of Information Act
What is the majoritarian SV system used for in the UK?
to elect the London mayor and many other directly elected mayors across the UK
What majoritarian system is not used in the UK?
AV system
How are list systems based?
they are party based more than candidate based
Why are list systems more party based than candidate based?
this is because voters express a preference for a party rather than a candidate
What system is used in elections to the European Parliament?
A regional list system
What could be a result of a regional list system?
could lead to some parties being under or over represented in relation to their share of the popular vote
What does an open list system allow voters to choose between?
allows voters to choose between a given party’s candidates rather than simply voting for the party and letting the party hierarchy decide the order of candidates
What is an advantage of an open list system?
it increases voter choice
What are thresholds?
a threshold is a percentage of the vote that a party must secure before it wins any seats under a list system
What do thresholds sacrifice?
they sacrifice a little proportionality in favour of more stable government
Under what list system are the elections to the European Parliament under since 1999?
under a closed regional list system
How does the 2009 UK elections to the European Parliament demonstrate the way in which parties who would be unlikely to win seats under FPTP can prosper under a more proportional system? (3)
UKIP won 13 seats
Greens won 2 MEP’s
BNP won 2 MEP’s
What would a pure proportional system with an open national list and no threshold result in?
far more parties being represented in the HOC and no single party having an overall majority
According to the Essex model, how many seats would Labour have lost in 1997 if the election had been through a pure proportional system?
would have lost 89 seats , short of an overall majority
What type of system is SV?
a majoritarian system
How does the SV preferential system work?
Voters rank candidates in order of preference, if no candidate receives more than 50% of first preferences all but the top two candidates are eliminated with their votes transferred to second preference
How is AV similar to SV? (2)
- they both employ preferential voting
- both systems allow a candidate to win outright whee they can secure over 50% of first preferences
How do AV and SV differ?
they differ on what happens when no single candidate has an absolute majority of first preferences.
- Under SV the votes of all but the top two are transferred on the basis of their second preference
- Under AV, candidates would be eliminated one by one from the bottom with votes being transferred until one of the remaining candidates was able to secure an absolute majority
What are the 3 advantageous effects of the SV system?
1) reinforces the wining candidates personal mandate
2) reduces wasted votes
3) increases voter choice
What does SV stand for?
supplementary vote
What are the 4 observations that can be made of the Sv system?
1) the centre-left is favoured
2) convention tactical voting is reduced
3) the winning candidate under Sv may still not command 50% of the popular vote
4) voters have to use guess work
How, under the SV system is the centre-left favoured?
as this allows Labour voters to select lib gems as a second preference and vice versa
What party does SV undermine the chances of success?
the Conservative Party
How, under the SV system is conventional tactical voting reduced?
because voters have the benefit of a second preference
How might the winning candidate under SV still not command 50% of the popular vote?
because the ballots of eliminated candidates will only be transferred if their second preference were in favour of the two remaining candidates
Which official Labour candidate was eliminated after the first preferences in the first London mayoral contest in 2000 due to voters having to use guess work in the SV system?
Frank Dobson
Which system did the Electoral Reform Society originally favour ?
use of AV system
