Paper 1 - Regional Assemblies' Voting Systems

Question 1

AMS - Advantages

Answer 1

• Fixes disproportionate voting by having a top up system, one part does disproportionately well in constituencies, it does worse in regional voting as a result, making it more proportional.
• Wider choice; they can choose a local representative they like for one and a party they like for another.

Question 2

AMS - Disadvantages

Answer 2

• Creates two classes of MP, one who has a personal mandate, being personally chosen by the people, the regional candidate just getting in because of the popularity of their party.
• If there are less top-up seats it is less proportional, like in the Welsh parliament Labour doing overly well because of the lack of top up seats.

Question 3

STV - Advantages

Answer 3

• Closest correlation between seats and votes
• Wide voter choice; they can vote for a candidate they like regardless of party and a party they agree with.
• In NI, allowed a government where Unionists and Nationalists work together, ending years of violence.

Question 4

STV - Disadvantages

Answer 4

• Not as proportional with constituent cites with fewer members
• Constituencies with more members have less of a connection with their constituents.
• Although it broke got rivals together in NI, there was still conflict. The executive broke down for five years between 02 and 07 and again in 2017.

Question 5

SV - Advantages

Answer 5

• Ensures broad support for the winner. Sadiq Khan had the largest mandate for any single British politician ever when he won in 2016.
• Simple and straightforward for the voter to use.
• Allows independent candidates to win. 12/40 police commissioners were independent in 2012.

Question 6

SV - Disadvantages

Answer 6

• Not proportionate as there’s one winner and one position
• The winner doesn’t need the majority of votes cast.
• The voters need to know who the top two candidates are to have an impact on the final vote.