Two party system Flashcards
what is a two party system?
a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape
Why was the two party system seen as beneficial?
voters had a clear choice between two programmes of government
this meant there would be strong opposition which is essential in the running of a country
both parties would be drawn to the centre ground (just like Blair said)
this would essentially limit extremism
Give an example of how the UK is a two party system
General elections from 1945 to 1974 gave strong evidence of a two party system
at the 1951 general election the labour and conservative combined vote share was 96.8%
all but 9 MP’s were labour or conservative
This was due to class alignment which was prevailed historically
Give an example of how the UK is not a two party system
since 1974, the two party system has come under strain
in the February 1974 general election labour and the conservatives lost a considerable amount of shares to a third party which in turn caused a hung parliament - minority labour
this meant that third parties such as lib dems gained 8 seats, SNP gained 6 seats and Plaid Cymru
once the strong link between working class voters and labour/ middle class and the conservatives broke down many voters became motivated by political issues that crossed the left-right divide
this lead to increase votes for third parties such as the green party (environment and so on)
Give a second example of how the UK is a two party system
The combined vote share of the Labour and Conservative parties has fallen from 96.8% in 1951 to 67.3% in
2015
the percentage of seats dropped from 98.6% (1951) to 86.5% (2015).
This is due to the voting system which is non-proportional and makes the distribution of a party’s support as important as the strength of its support
in 2015, UKIP received 3.8 million votes but because the electorate were dispersed across the country
They came second and won 120 constituents
because of the voting system it makes it hard for third parties to gain power as their support is not concentrated in a particular region such as the SNP who were able to break through in spite of the FPTP system
Give a second example of how the UK is not a two party system?
electoral systems have impacted the two main parties in other elections
in the 2014 European parliament election, UKIP won winning 24 of the 73 available seats
the use of the closed party list ensured an additional 10 seats went to parties other than the conservative and labour
The additional member system combines the FPTP with the closed party list which in turn enables third parties to gain more seats as it is more proportionally represented
