Unit 1: Elections and Voting questions

Question 1

Outline two functions of elections. (5)

Answer 1

Elections fulfil key functions in representative democracy.

1. A means of providing choice for the electorate in terms of parties and candidates.
2. Devices which allow government to be fairly removed and to form. If a party wins an election it secures the right to govern.
3. Serve to be the means in a large society by which citizens actively participate and can feel involved in political life.

Question 2

How do elections promote democracy? (5)

Answer 2

1. They allow ordinary citizens to take part in politics
2. Involvement creates choice in who holds office
3. Involvement furthers democracy as those who win elections gain democratic legitimacy
4. Elections are crucial in representative democracy.

e.g. General Election held every five years (due to Fixed Parliament Act 2011) and PCC elections

Question 3

What is the doctrine of the mandate? (5)

Answer 3

• A mandate means an individual or group has authority to act.
• Political mandate means the winning party at an election has the right to form a government.
• They also have the authority to implement policies outlined in their manifestos.
• Salisbury convention prevents HoL from contesting any policy lined out in government manifesto

Question 4

What is representation? (5)

Answer 4

• Representation is the idea that the public is accurately ‘represented’ in the government.
  1. Can be descriptive representation where Parliament should reflect the demographic composition of society ie roughly equal proportions by gender, ethnicity, class etc.
  2. Can be where ideologies of the people are represented - gained through the public voting for officials in elections.

Question 5

Distinguish between a mandate and a manifesto. (5)

Answer 5

1. A manifesto is a document produced by parties before an election to outline the policies they intend to implement if they form a government.
2. A mandate gives authority to a person/party to act in a certain way. For example, if a party wins a majority of seats in an election, they have a mandate to form a government and implement the policies outlined in their manifesto.

Question 6

Define proportional representation. (5)

Answer 6

1. A type of electoral system.
2. It attempts to accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast for parties with the proportion of seats they win.
3. It can be described by some as ‘fair voting’ as it attempts to prevent unfair outcomes given by electoral systems like FPTP.
4. Examples of proportional systems are closed party list, AMS and STV

Question 7

What is meant by the term ‘party system’? (5)

Answer 7

1.A party system examines political parties in the political structure and attempts to place them in to various categories or types based on their relationships.
2. A two party system is where only two of the parties (out of many) who contest the election have any chance of achieving governmental power
3. A two and a half party system is where there are two major parties who
can have a significant take in government plus a minor or ‘third party’ this is similar to the situation in the UK in 2010
3. Also have multi-party systems and one party dominant systems.

Question 8

Identify two features of the FPTP system. (5)

Answer 8

1. It’s ease at counting and producing a result - count votes for each candidate in each constituency then party with majority of seats forms government.
2. It’s ability to produce stable, single party governments with the exception of Feb 1974 and 2010.
3. 650 single member constituencies
4. Disproportional - no correlation between seats/national vote share.

Question 9

Outline the workings of the Additional Member System (AMS). (5)

Answer 9

1. A hybrid of FPTP and list system.
2. Voters get two votes: 1. local constituency candidate and 2. regional party list
3. FPTP section counted first, list used to balance disproportionality of FPTP.
4. Parties which over perform in FPTP are less likely to win regional seats.
5. Not purely proportional as it is practiced in the UK - Scottish Parliament: 73 constituencies, but 56 list seats. Welsh Assembly: 40 constituency seats, 20 list seats.

Question 10

Outline the works of the Party List electoral system. (5)

Answer 10

1. The only system that has no constituency representation.
2. Mostly proportional.
3. Seats are allocated according to vote share.
4. Parties produce a list of candidates to be elected.
5. split into regions 9 in England, then Scotland, Wales and NI
6. If a party wins 1/3 seats, then top 1/3 of candidates on list are elected (closed party list used for EU elections)

Question 11

Describe three different elections regularly held in the UK. (5)

Answer 11

1. General Election, held every five years due to Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011. Prove MPs for all geographical locations in the UK. Determine government
2. By-elections serve to provide representatives when a vacancy in a constituency arises.
3. Local elections prove representation at a lower level and elect councillors who administer certain services in the local areas.
4. Elections take place to secure representatives for the EU.

Question 12

Define what is meant by ‘class dealignment.’ (5)

Answer 12

The weakening of the relationship between social class and party.

1. Reflected in a declining proportion of working-class voters supporting Labour, and a fall in proportion of middle-class voters supporting the Conservatives.
2. Consequences: a shift in the policies and ideas of the two major parties as they have been forced to seek votes from ‘natural’ supporters of other parties.

Question 13

Define what is meant by ‘partisan dealignment’. (5)

Answer 13

A decline in the extent to which people align themselves with a party by identifying with it.

1. A growing number of electors become ‘floating voters’
2. Consequences: greater electoral volatility. This has been reflected in increased uncertainty about electoral outcomes, as ‘swings’ from one party to another become larger as do the rise of new parties.

Question 14

Outline how the single transferable vote works. (5)

Answer 14

1. Rank candidates in order of preference.
2. Multi-member constituencies
3. Droop formula is used (no of votes/no of seats + 1) +1
4. Used in Scottish local elections.

Question 15

Explain three ways in which elections promote democracy. (10)

Answer 15

1. They allow ordinary citizens to take part in politics
2. Involvement creates choice in who holds office
3. Involvement furthers democracy as those who win elections gain democratic legitimacy
4. Elections are crucial in representative democracy.

e.g. General Election held every five years (due to Fixed Parliament Act 2011) and PCC elections

Question 16

Explain three advantages of the FPTP system. (10)

Answer 16

1. Forms a strong and stable government - every government since WWII, with the exception of Feb 1974 and 2010, has been a majority single-party government.
2. Quick and easy to count and form a government - Only have to count votes of constituencies and then party with majority of seats wins. Results usually guaranteed within 24 hours.
3. Stops extreme/fringe parties from gaining many seats. Eg UKIP had 12.6% of the vote in the 2015 GE but only secured 1 seat.

Question 17

Explain the limitations of the doctrine of the mandate. (10)

Answer 17

1. No single-party majority government since WWII has won over 1/2 of the vote. (Labour 2005 had 35.2% of thee vote, but they formed a government.
2. 2010 Coalition agreement was not democratically endorsed.
3. ??????

Question 18

Explain three criticisms of the FPTP system. (10)

Answer 18

1. Systematic bias in the system, favours larger parties and doesn’t accurately represent smaller parties. Also, the obvious lack of correlation between seats and votes. Conservative Party won a majority in 2015, but only won 36.9% of the national votes.
2. Candidates require a plurality to win, not a majority so could be considered democratically illegitimate. In the 2010 GE, over 2/3 of MPs did not win a majority in their constituency.
3. Creates safe seats, where voters may feel their vote is worthless which leads to political disengagement and a decline in turnout.

Question 19

Distinguish between majoritarian representation and proportional representation. (10)

Answer 19

Majoritarian system:
1.A party can gain a majority of the seats without gaining a majority of the votes.
2.There is no correlation between number of votes received and number of seats gained. FPTP has majoritarian representation
3. Unfair representation of large (overrepresented) and small (underrepresented) parties
Proportional system:
1.In theory, a party needs 50% of the vote to gain 50% of the seats.
2. There is direct correlation between number of votes and number of seats. Party List system is an example of an electoral system with proportional representation.
3. No unfair bias to larger parties, larger and smaller parties have same chance to win seats.

Question 20

Explain the workings of three electoral systems in the UK. (10)

Answer 20

1. FPTP: 650 single member constituencies, electorate votes for candidates in their constituency, party that wins majority of seats forms a government.
2. AMS: a hybrid of FPTP and List system, multimember constituencies, electorate votes for constituency candidate and regional party list candidate. FPTP for constituency candidate and then list is used to counteract disproportionality of FPTP. Used in Welsh Assembly.
3. STV: Rank candidates in order of preference. Multi-member constituencies. Droop formula is used (no of votes/no of seats + 1) +1. Used in Scottish local elections.

Question 21

Explain how and why party representation might be affected by any three different electoral systems. (10)

Answer 21

1. FPTP: larger parties over represented, smaller parties under represented
2. AMS: larger parties still slightly over represented because FPTP is still used, but list system makes it slightly more proportional
3. STV: parties are roughly completely proportionally represented (droop formula used)

Question 22

Explain why proportional electoral systems have been more widely used in the UK since 1997. (10)

Answer 22

1. Rise of smaller parties such as, Green, UKIP etc and they tend to have less geographically concentrated votes and therefore do not win as many seats as their number of votes should do.
2. STV has been used in NI devolved elections - intended to engineer a power sharing executive.
3. Has been used for EU Parliament elections like other countries do.

Question 23

Explain the reasons for decline in turnout in recent years.(10)

Answer 23

1. General political disengagement, parties have moved away from their ideological roots and people no longer identify with certain parties and therefore don’t vote.
2. FPTP: many people feel like their vote doesn’t count in their constituency if they live in a safe seat constituency.
3. other shizzle