The Electoral System Flashcards
What is the franchise?
The right to vote
What was the franchise extended from and to?
From being restricted to the property owning classes to Universal Suffrage.
What happens in a General Election?
All 650 MPs resign to contest their seats.
What is a by-election?
An election in a single constituency caused by the death or resignation of an MP.
What kind of term did the 2010 Coalition Government introduce? How can a GE be called within this?
Fixed-term Parliaments of five years.
A vote of no confidence in the government or a vote by two thirds of the House of Commons can trigger an election.
Do these kinds of terms still exist?
No - the fixed term parliament act was repealed by the current government, so the Prime Minister will decide on the date of the next general election, probably in 2024, or early 2025.
Who can vote in a general election?
British, Irish, Commonwealth citizens normally resident in the UK
Must be 18+
Must be on the Electoral Register
Which 6 categories of people can’t vote in a GE?
Peers sitting in the House of Lords.
Foreigners (including EU citizens).
Patients detained under the mental health act for crimes.
Convicted prisoners.
People convicted of corrupt or illegal elections practices.
The King and heirs don’t vote, although there is no law stopping them.
What type of voting decides a GE?
‘Plurality’ voting - otherwise known as First Past the Post.
How many votes must a party win to form an outright government?
326
What is a hung parliament and what are three scenarios it could result in?
If no party gets to 326 seats.
The party with the most seats can either:
- Try to govern as a minority administration, on a vote by vote basis, which is unstable as they can be defeated at any moment if the other parties gang up on them
- They could enter into a “confidence and supply” agreement with other parties whereby smaller parties support the government on big votes (such as the Budget)
- Or they can try to form a formal coalition with other parties to reach the magic 326 figure (e.g. 2010 Coalition) with an agreed list of legislation
What is the main downside to the first past the post system?
It does not distribute seats on the basis of the proportion of votes cast. Votes cast for any candidate but the winner are effectively ‘wasted’.
How does a Single Transferable Vote system work?
Voters mark candidates in order of preference in multi member constituencies. If one reaches the quota (that is, for example, 20% of first preferences in a five member constituency), the surplus votes from that candidate are re-calculated with their second choices now counted as a first choice. (Used in Northern Ireland Assembly elections)
How does a party list system work?
The parties list their chosen candidates in order of priority and voters invited to vote for that party. Open party lists give voters some say in the order of the lists; in closed party lists voters have no say in the order of the list. (Used in European elections)
How does an Alternative Vote system work?
This operates in single member constituencies. If a candidate has more than 50% of votes he/she is elected. If not the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and that candidate’s votes redistributed according to second choices.
