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Politics > Unit 1: Electoral Systems > Flashcards

Unit 1: Electoral Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What are the four main elections in the UK?

A
  • general elections
  • devolved assembly elections (fixed term, every four years)
  • European Parliament elections (fixed term, every five years)
  • local elections, to district, borough and county council, and mayoral elections (fixed term, usually every four/five years)
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2
Q

What are the three main functions of elections?

A
  • form governments
  • ensure representation
  • uphold legitimacy
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3
Q

How do elections carry out the representation function? [2]

A
  • establish the constituency link

- establish general link between between the government of the day and public opinion

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4
Q

How do elections uphold legitimacy?

A

-the electorate providing ‘consent’ to be governed

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5
Q

In what two ways is the UK less successful in upholding legitimacy?

A
  • low turnout levels since 2001 - may be part of the electorate withholding consent to be governed
  • falling support for the governing parties since the 70s - may indicate declining satisfaction with the performance of the UK political system
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6
Q

What are the three main notions of representation?

A
  • trusteeship/burkean representation
  • the doctrine of the mandate
  • descriptive reprensentation
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7
Q

What are two criticisms of Burkean representation, and how could the first be tackled?

A
  • creates a gap between the views of ordinary citizens and the views of their representatives, representatives acting in own interest. -gap could be filled by shortening of electoral terms/introduction of of recall elections
  • only applicable to limited number of situations, e.g. free votes, backbench revolts. MPs are more accountable to party
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8
Q

What are the main premises of the doctrine of the mandate? [3]

A
  • by winning an election, a party gains a mandate to carry out manifesto policies
  • the party, not individual politicians, carry out representation
  • MPs serve their constituents by being loyal to their party, not thinking for themselves
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9
Q

What are the criticisms of the doctrine of the mandate theory of representation? [5]

A
  • the electorate do not necessarily vote ‘rationally’ i.e.. on the basis of manifesto promises
  • even if a vote is based on policy, it will never be in support of an entire manifesto, which weakens the mandate
  • no way of forcing governments to carry out manifesto once elected, and some policies are often only included for votes
  • it is unclear who the mandate falls to: party or PM. rise of presendentialism?
  • not possible in event of a coalition as each manifesto is compromised
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10
Q

What would a government with descriptive representation be like?

A

A microcosm of society, containing members from all social groups in proportionate numbers

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11
Q

What are the criticisms of descriptive representation?

A
  • no defence of broader public interest, as each member tries only to defend the interests of their group
  • government would reflect society’s weaknesses as well as strength e.g. if majority of population were apathetic, poorly informed and poorly educated
  • not reconcilable with electoral choice
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12
Q

Where is First Past The Post (FPTP) used [2] and what type of electoral system is it?

A
  • House of Commons
  • local government in England and Wales

-plurality system

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13
Q

Where is Additional Member System (AMS) used [3] and what type of electoral system is it?

A
  • Scottish Parliament
  • Welsh Assembly
  • Greater London Assembly

-mixed system

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14
Q

Where is Single Transferable Vote (STV) used [2] and what type of electoral system is it?

A
  • Northern Ireland Assembly

- local government in Northern Ireland and Scotland

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15
Q

Where is Supplementary Vote (SV) used and what type of electoral system is it?

A
  • London mayoral elections

- majority system

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16
Q

Where is Alternative Vote (AV) used and what type of electoral system is it?

A
  • local government by-elections in Scotland

- majority system

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17
Q

What is a majoritarian electoral system?

A

An electoral system that tends to over-represent larger parties and usually results in single-party government

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18
Q

What is a proportional electoral system?

A

An electoral system that tends to represent parties in line with their electoral support

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19
Q

How many constituencies are there in the UK?

A

-650

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20
Q

What are the implications of FPTP? [5]

A
  • disproportionality
  • systematic biases
  • two-party system
  • single-party government
  • the landslide effect
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21
Q

What is meant by disproportionality as an implication of FPTP?

A

-the disparity between the actual number of votes for a party and the number of seats they win, e.g. 1974 when Labour formed a minority government as the largest party in the House of Commons despite having fewer votes than the Conservatives

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22
Q

What are the systematic biases of FPTP? [2]

A
  • size of party

- distribution of support

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23
Q

Why do large parties benefit at the expense of small parties under FPTP? [3]

A
  • ‘winner takes all’ effect - 100% of representation is gained in each constituency by a single candidate, and therefore a single party
  • winning candidates tend to come from larger parties, nullifying third of fourth party votes
  • voters are discouraged from supporting small parties because they know they are unlikely to win seats (wasted votes). some people vote for the ‘least bad’
24
Q

Why is even distribution of support bad for small/’third’ parties?

A

They could win a significant proportion of votes nationwide but comes second or third in almost every seat, thus gaining less seats/power than their proportion of votes nationwide should give them

25
Q

What percentage of votes and seats did the Liberal Democrats have in the 1983 and 2010 General elections?

A
  • 1983 25.4% votes 3.5% seat

- 2010 23% votes 8.8% seats

26
Q

How can the improving position of the Liberal Democrats be explained? [2]

A
  • the ruthless targeting of borderline seats in electoral campaigns
  • the growing tendency towards tactical voting
27
Q

What is a marginal seat?

A

-a seat/constituency with a small majority, which is therefore ‘winnable’ by more than one party

28
Q

What is a safe seat?

A

-a seat/constituency that is consistently won by the same party

29
Q

What is the landslide effect?

A

-when support for the second major party dramatically declines, resulting in an artifical landslide majority for the other major party

30
Q

Give a recent example of the landslide effect

A

-Labour 2001 - electoral support of 41% - parliamentary majority of 166 seats

31
Q

Describe the Additional Member System (AMS) [5]

A
  • a ‘mixed’ system made up of constituency and party-list elements
  • a proportion of seats filled by FPTP using single-member constituencies (56% in Scotland and London, 66% in Wales)
  • remaining seats filled with closed party-list system
  • electors cast 2 votes, one for a candidate in a constituency election, the other for a party in a list election
  • the party list ‘tops up’ the constituency results, ‘correctively’ achieving the most proportional outcome using the D’Hondt formula
32
Q

What are the advantages of AMS? [2]

A
  • its mixed character balances the need for constituency representation and electoral fairness
  • it allows voters to make wider and more considered choices; they can vote for different parties in their two votes. They can vote for both their individual constituency representative and the party they want in government
33
Q

What are the disadvantages of AMS? [3]

A
  • single-member constituencies reduce the likelihood of high levels of proportionality
  • creates confusion by having two classes of representative
  • less effective constituency representation - larger constituency size, and not all reps have constituency duties
34
Q

Describe how the 2007 Scottish Parliament outcome was ‘corrected’ by AMS

A
  • Labour won 37 out of 63 constituency seats (j over half) with 32% of the overall vote
  • the distribution of party-list seats gave it 36% of total seats
  • this put Labour behind SNP
35
Q

What are the main implications of proportional systems? [4]

A
  • greater proportionality
  • multiparty systems
  • coalition or minority government
  • consensus-building
36
Q

Describe Single Transferable Vote (STV)

A
  • multimember consituencies (NIA has 18 constituencies, 6 members each)
  • parties can put up as many candidates as there are seats in each constituency
  • electors vote preferentially by ranking
  • candidates are elected if they achieve a quota of votes
  • quota is calculated using the Droop formula
  • quoata = (total number of votes cast/(number of seats to be filled + 1)) +1
  • votes initially counted according to first preference. if any candidate achieves the quota additional votes for them are counted according to subsequent preferences
  • if some seates are still unfilled, the candidate with the fewest votes drops out and their votes are redistributed according to subsequent preferenes
37
Q

What are the advantages of STV?

A
  • can achieve highly proportional outcomes
  • competition amongst candidates from the same party mean they can be individually judged
  • the availability of several representatives mean constituents can choose who to contact
38
Q

What are the disadvantages of STV?

A
  • degree of proportionality can vary
  • single-party government unlikely
  • multimember constituencies may be divisive for the party
39
Q

How many votes and seats did UKIP gain in the 2005 General election, and how many seats do they have in the European Parliament?

A
  • 600,000 votes
  • 0 seats
  • 13 seats
40
Q

What is a closed party list?

A

-a version of the party list system where voters only vote for the party and not individual candidates

41
Q

What is a minority government?

A
  • a government that does not have overall majority support in the assembly/parliament
  • minority governments are usually formed by single parties that can’t/don’t want to form coalitions
42
Q

Describe Regional Party List

A
  • large multimember constituencies
  • for European Parliament UK is divided into 12 regions with 3-10 members each (72 in total)
  • parties compile closed candidate list, in descending order of preference
  • parties are allocated seats in direct proportion to their votes in each regional constituency
  • seats are filled from party list
43
Q

What are the advantages of Regional Party List? [3]

A
  • the only potentially ‘pure’ system of PR, therefore fair to all parties
  • tends to promote unity by encouraging electors to identify with a region rather than constituency
  • makes it easier for woman and minority candidates to be elected provided they feature on the party list
44
Q

What are the disadvantages of Regional Party List? [3]

A
  • the existence of many small parties can lead to weak and unstable government
  • the link between representatives and constituencies is weakened/broken
  • parties become more powerful as they decided on order of party list
45
Q

Describe Supplementary Vote (SV)

A
  • single-member constituencies
  • electors have 2 votes: first preference and supplementary vote
  • winning candidate in election must gain a minimum of 50% of all votes
  • votes counted according to first preference
  • if no candidate reaches 50% the top two candidates remain and the other candidate’s supplementary votes are redistributed
46
Q

Describe Alternative Vote (AV)

A
  • single-member constituencies
  • electors vote preferentially
  • winning candidate must gain a minimum of 50% of the votes
  • votes counted according to first preference
  • if one candidate does not achieve 50%, the bottom candidate drops out and their subsequent preferences are redistributed until one candidate gains 50%
47
Q

What are the advantages of AV and SV? [2]

A
  • ensure that fewer votes are wasted than in FPTP
  • as winning candidate requires more than 50% of the vote, a broader range of views and opinions influence the outcome. parties drawn towards centre ground
48
Q

What are the disadvantages of AV and SV? [2]

A
  • outcome may be determined by the preferences of supporters of small/extremist parties
  • winning candidate may enjoy little first-preference support - only succeed on basis of redistributed supplementary vote. only least unpopular candidate
49
Q

Which voting system was recommended by an independent commission in 1998, and was (falsely) promised a referendum? Why was a referendum never held?

A
  • AV plus - AV topped up with party list

- Labour had proved they could still win under FPTP

50
Q

What was the exact outcome of the 2010 AV referendum?

A

-68% ‘no’

51
Q

What are five major arguments for the reforming of Westminster elections?

A
  • electoral fairness - all votes having the same value. PR underpins the basic democratic principle of political equality
  • no/fewer wasted votes (for second/third parties, and the winner’s surplus)
  • majority government, rather than plurality government e.g. FPTP 2005 35% of the vote got Labour in
  • accountable government - government forced to listen to Parliament as they need the support of more than one party
  • consensus political culture - negotiation, consultation and comprimise instead of one-sidedness
52
Q

What are five major argumetns against the refoming of Westminster elections?

A
  • clear electoral choice between different government - few possible outcomes (however due to parties shifting towards the centre the distinction may not be so clear)
  • constituency representation - people know exactly who represents their local interests (although this would not neccesarily be lost)
  • strong government - it does not have to go through other parties, more efficient
  • mandate democracy - coalition post-election deals are not endorsed by the electorate
  • stable government - one party, idealogical unity
53
Q

2010 election results for three main parties:

What does this tell us about their support?

A 
- Conservatives:
Seats - 46%
Votes - 36%
geographically concentrated support
over represented 
Labour:
Seats - 39%
Votes - 29%
geographically concentrated
over represented
Liberal Democrats
Seats - 8.8%
Votes - 23%
evenly spread support
under represented
54
Q

What’s a two party system?

A
  • two major parties dominate political system
  • both parties have equal chance of winning government power
  • usually alternations between the two time after time
  • forms single party government with the other forming the opposition of ‘party in the wings’
  • other parties exist but have low representative strength
55
Q

What’s a multiparty system?

A
  • more than two parties have equal chance of winning government power
  • no two parties dominate
  • usually forms collations and new administrations in between elections
  • distinction between major and minor parties is harder to maintain and establish
56
Q

examples of safe seats

A
  • 2010 Knowsley (76% voted Labour)

- 2010 New Forest West (54% voted Conservative)

57
Q

example of marginal seat

A
  • High Peak (39% voted Labour, 36% voted Conservative)

Politics (6 decks)

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