Supplementary Vote

Question 1

Who is SV used to elect?

Answer 1

The mayor of London and directly elected mayor’s in other towns and cities, aswell as police and crime commissioners

Question 2

Describe the three key features that describe SV

Answer 2

• the voter records their first and second preferences on the ballot paper (though the second choice is not a requirement)
• if no candidate wins a majority of first preferences, all but the top two candidates are eliminated and the second preference votes for the two remaining candidates are added to the first preference votes. Most of the time, the candidate who won the first round is still confirmed as the victor after the second round. One notable exception to this norm was the 2021 Cambridge and Peterborough mayoral election.
• the candidate with the highest total is elected after the second round has been completed

Question 3

Describe the advantages of SV

Answer 3

• the winning candidate must achieve broad support, giving them greater legitimacy
• supporters of smaller parties can be used to express their allegiance and their second preference can indicate which major party candidate they prefer
• the votes of people who use both their first and second preferences to support minor parties do not influence the election outcome

Question 4

Describe the disadvantages of SV

Answer 4

• the winning candidate may be elected without winning a majority of votes if the second preference votes aren’t used effectively. Voters need to use either of their preferences for one of the to two candidates in order to effect the outcome. But many voters cast their second preference votes for candidates other than the top two
• the winning candidate dies not need a majority of first preference votes. The candidate who secured the most first preference votes may not be elected after the second preference are distributed. The least unpopular, rather than the most popular, could be elected
• the system would still not deliver a proportional outcome if used for general elections

Question 5

Why can sv be seen as producing genuinely competitive elections?

Answer 5

It has allowed for the election of independent ken Livingstone, conservative Boris Johnson, and labour Sadiq khan in the space of just 16 years

Question 6

What did the 2017 conservative manifesto promise and what does this show?

Answer 6

Promised to scrap the sv system used for electing the London mayor and replace it with FPTP. This might show that the conservatives saw sv as a threat

Question 7

Give some data that suggests that STV has the potential to lead to a participation crisis

Answer 7

Participation numbers have fluctuated between the mid 30s and low 40s, similar to levels found in other local elections, and well below those in the devolved countries

Question 8

How many ballots were spoiled due to voters voting for too many candidates?

Answer 8

87,000

Question 9

What percentage of people said they were satisfied with AMS?

Answer 9

92

Question 10

What was the record number of candidates in the 2021 London mayor elections!

Answer 10

20