Paper 1: Electoral Systems Flashcards
What are the functions of elections?
Representation Choosing a government Holding government to account Encourage participation Give people influence over policy
What is the criteria for deciding which is the best electoral system?
Which:
Gives a fair result as far as possible
Gives a choice of candidates
Has an effective link between the elected representative and the constituency
Gives a strong govt. that can pass laws but can be held accountable by electorate
What are the sizes of constituencies regulated by?
Regulated by an independent Boundary Commission which recommends periodic changes based on movements of population
How many constituencies are there in the UK?
650
Advantages of FPTP: Speed and simplicity
V. easy to use, result usually known morning after polling day and new govt. rapidly formed
Advantages of FPTP: Strong and stable government
Tends to promote two-party system, giving voters clear choice and majority and can be removed at next general election, occasionally produces coalition govts. but normally produces a clear majority
Advantages of FPTP: Exclusion of extremists
Although there’s a lack of representation of smaller parties, this is good when these parties are extremists as they are much less likely to gain a foothold
Advantages of FPTP: Strong link between MPs and they constituencies
Most constituencies are small and a single MP is responsible for them and hold surgeries
Disadvantages of FPTP: MPs and governments can be elected on less than 50% of the vote
More than 1/2 of MPs typically don’t receive majority vote, just at least 1 more than the second place candidate
Disadvantages of FPTP: Lack of proportionality
It exaggerates the results and doesn’t reflect that the no. of ppl voting for the two largest parties are in decline
Disadvantages of FPTP: Winner’s bonus
Winning party gets a share of seats in excess to amount of votes it receives if a larger no. of seats are marginal between the two main parties
Disadvantages of FPTP: Limited voter choice
Party only puts 1 candidate forward so no representation of different views within a party
Disadvantage of FPTP: Votes are of unequal value
In small constituencies a vote counts for more than it would in a large one
74.4% of votes cast in 2015 election were wasted
What is an electoral desert?
A region of the country that contains many safe seats e.g large areas in the south of England
What is a marginal seat?
One held with a small majority e.g a 10% margin would need a swing of 5% to the rival party to take it
Turnout tends to be higher here
How many marginal seats were there in the 2017 general election
97/650 constituencies won by a margin of 5% of the vote or less
What is an electoral system?
A system that converts votes in an election into seats. May also refer to a process of electing a single leader, such as a president or mayor
Example of FPTP giving exaggerated number of seats
1997 Labour won 43% of votes and 63% of seats
2005 Labour won 35% of votes and 55% of seats
2010 Lib Dems won 23% of vote and 8.8% of seats
What’s a majoritarian system?
Winning candidate needs to secure an absolute majority (50% + 1)
What’s a plurality system?
The winner needs one more vote than their rival (FPTP)
What is a mixed system?
Combines plurality + PR. Some MPs are elected using FPTP whereas the rest are elected using PR
How odes Alternative Vote (AV) work?
You rank the candidate in order of preference, can select as many or few as you want
If candidate wins more than 50% of the vote they win
If nobody gets over 50%, last place candidate is eliminated and their votes are equally distributed between remaining candidates
This continues until someone has over 50% of the vote
Advantages of Alternative Vote
Reduces need for tactical voting
Reduces no. of safe seats
More likely to produce candidate with more support
Disadvantages of Alternative Vote
Can in some circumstances create more disproportional outcomes than FPTP
Prone to spoiling ballot as ppl may just rank in order written on the list
How does Additional Member System work?
Mixture of FPTP and party lists
2 ballot papers, 1st a list of candidates where voter puts cross next to chosen candidate, like FPTP
2nd a list of parties who want seats in parliament, a vote for a party is a vote to make more of their list of candidates into MPs
Advantages of AMS
More proportional and better reflects publics view
Maintains link between constituency and MPS because very person in Scotland has 8 MSPs who represent them
Enables minority parties to have a say in Scottish parliament
Disadvantages of AMS
Can be confusing as 2 votes and each MSP has different roles
Time consuming and expensive, with complexity comes cost and its harder to count
Produces coalition or minority govts. as may not produce clear winner
Why has FPTP survived for Westminster elections?
Mainly because the outcome suits the two largest parties
Voters accept it because it’s easy to use
Why was AMS adopted for Welsh and Scottish devolved elections and for the Greater London Assembly?
Lib Dems and SNP would’ve preferred STV for Scottish Parliament but AMS was seen as a compromise and less radical that STV
Then adopted for Wales and Greater London Assembly for similar reasons
Why was STV adopted for Northern Ireland assembly?
After 1998 Good Friday agreement as its highly proportional + ensures broad representation so important to avoid single party dominance
How are referendums different to elections?
Referendum offers simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ choice with one of them being implemented
An election inc. several political programmes whereas referendums on one feature on a single issue
Election grants mandate to a new govt. whereas due to parliamentary sovereignty results of referendum don’t have to be carried out
Simple majority is needed for referendum outcome
Examples of local referendums
Establishing directly elected mayors
Congestion charges, rejected
Council tax increases
Parish polls
Examples of factors affecting national referendums
Constitutional change
Coalition agreement
Party management
Political pressure
Impact referendums had on UK political life
Direct democracy
Constitutional convention
Parliamentary sovereignty and representative democracy
Have referendums enhanced representative democracy in the UK? Yes:
Have introduced direct democracy
Checked power of govt. making it more responsive to wishers of the people
Enhanced political participation
Educated people on key issues
Legitimised important constitutional changes
Have referendums enhanced representative democracy in the UK? No:
Undermined representative democracy taking complex decision making into the inexperienced public’s hand
Created tensions between parliament and people
Turnout in referendums is poor with decisions made on minority of voters
Referendum campaigns are often ill-informed
What are some negatives of referendums?
Lead to simplification of very complex issues, tricking ppl into thinking they’re simple issues
Lack of education on issues can cause ppl to vote for whatever
Referendums are a majoritarian form of voting so minorities lose out
Could be seen as only called when the govt. want to avoid making difficult decisions
