Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Politics AS > Unit 1 - Topic 2: Electoral Systems > Flashcards

Unit 1 - Topic 2: Electoral Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What are the four main types of electoral system?

A

Majoritarian systems
Plurality systems
Proportional systems
Mixed systems

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Name an example of a ‘mixed’ electoral system? Where has this system been used?

A
  • Additional Member System (AMS)
  • Scottish Parliament Elections
  • Welsh Assembly
  • London Assembly
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are the five electoral systems used in the UK? Where are they used?

A
  • First Past The Post (General Elections)
  • Suplementary Vote (Police & Crime Commisioners and Mayoral elections)
  • Additional Member System (Scottish Parliament, Welsh and London assemblies)
  • Closed Party List (Elections to European Parliament)
  • Single Transferable Vote (Northern Ireland elections to NI Assembly and NI Local Authorities)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Give an example where, under FPTP, a winning candidate has won a seat with a relatively small share of the vote (due to the plurality system).

A

In 2010, Glenda Jackson won the Hampstead and Kilburn seat with less than one third of the votes cast:

  • She won only 32.8% of the vote, compared to the 32.7% of her Tory opponent.
  • She won only 42 more votes than her closest rival.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the four main characteristics of FPTP?

A
  • Encourages two horse race
  • Gives a winner’s bonus
  • Penalises smaller parties
  • Encourages single-party government
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Give an example of how FPTP encourages a two horse race.

A
  • In 1983, the SDP was severely punished for splitting from Labour (and becomning a third party). It won 25% of the vote share, but only 23 seats.
  • As a result, there is little incentive for groups to break away from the two major parties.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Give an example of how FPTP has rewarded a winner’s bonus.

A

In 1997, Labour won a landslide majority despite having having less than half of the total vote share.
- Labour increased its vote share by 8.8%, yet gained 145 seats (that’s over 22% of the seats in parliament).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Give an example of how FPTP penalises smaller parties.

A

In 2015, UKIP won 12.6% of the total vote share, yet only a single parliamentary seat.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is strong evidence for the ability of FPTP to produce single party government?

A

Since WW2, only the 1974 and 2010 general elections have failed to produce a majority government. This is rare.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the five main advantages of FPTP?

A
  • Simplicity
  • Clear outcome
  • Strong, stable government
  • Doctrine of the mandate
  • Effective representation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Why does FPTP produce disproportionate outcomes?

A
  • Two main parties receive a disproportionately larger share of votes (seen as unfair).
  • Parties without geographical concentration are penalised unfairly.
  • Parties have ‘electoral’ deserts, such as more recently in Scotland where only all but one of its 59 seats are SNP.
  • A party can win a majority of seats with less of the total vote share than its nearest rival (e.g. in 1951, the Tories won more seats than Labour with less votes)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Give examples of how FPTP works on plurality rather than majority.

A
  • In 2010, less than two thirds of MPs were elected on a majority of vote casts in their constituencies.
  • No party since 1935 has won a majority of votes cast nationally.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Give examples of how FPTP produces wasted votes.

A
  • In 2010, 53% of all votes went to the losing candidate.

- In 2010, 18% votes were in ‘excess’ to what the winning candidate needed to gain a plurality.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Describe how FPTP has led to ‘adversarial’ politics?

A
  • In 1960s and 70s, small swings in general elections produced frequent changes in government. The succeeding party tended to scrap policies introduced by their rivals.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are the advantages of AV?

A
  • Representatives elected by majorities in constituencies (strong representation)
  • Winning candidate needs broad support
  • So fewer wasted votes
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are the disadvantages of AV?

A
  • It is not proportional, and can produce less proportionate outcomes than FPTP. In 1997, Labour would have won a bigger landslide under AV.
  • People who voted for small extremist parties more likely to have second preferences redistributed and counted.
  • The most popular candidate in first round may be eliminated due to second preferences, so (in theory) the least popular candidate might be elected.
17
Q

Describe Supplementary Vote

A
  • Majoritarian system

- Exactly like AV, but voter records only first and second preference

18
Q

Where is SV used in the UK?

A

Elections for:

  • Mayor of London
  • Police and Crime Commisioners
19
Q

What are the advantages of SV?

A
  • Winner needs broad support.

- Second preferences of voters who support minor parties not counted.

20
Q

What are the disadvantages of SV?

A
  • Winning candidate does not need majority of first preferences.
  • Would not produce proportional outcome in GEs.
21
Q

Describe the Party List system

A
  • Multi-member constituencies
  • Political parties produce lists of candidates in the order they will be elected.
  • Voters cast one vote for the party of their choice.
  • Seats allocated according to proportionate of votes cast.
22
Q

What are the advantages of the Party List system?

A
  • Very proportional (depending on district magnitude)

- Lists can be used to increase number of female/minority representatives.

23
Q

What are the disadvantages of the Party List system?

A
  • If closed list, voters can’t choose between candidates of same party.
  • Parties control the order of candidates, so can put pro-leadership candidates at top of list.
  • Link between representaitves and consituents is broken in multi-member constituencies.
24
Q

Describe Single Transferable Vote (STV)

A
  • Large multi-member constituencies
  • Voters preferentially vote for candidates (as many or few as they like)
  • A candidate needs to achieve a number of votes detirmined by the Droop formula. Votes that are in excess of this then have their second preferences redistributed.
  • This continues until the total number of seats is filled by all candidates meeting the formula.
25
Q

Where is STV used?

A

NI elections to NI Assembly and Local Authorities

26
Q

What are the advantages of STV?

A
  • Produces highly proportional outcomes, and the redistributed of ‘excess’ votes as well as eliminated ones mean that votes have equal value.
  • A party would need to win 50% of the total votes to form a government.
  • Voters have lots of choice, including candidates from same party
27
Q

What are the disadvantages of STV?

A
  • Not as good at translating votes into seats as Party List system.
  • Lare multi-member constituencies mean link between representatives and constituencies is reduced.
  • Likely to produce coalition government, so smaller parties will often hold balance of power.
28
Q

Describe how AMS works

A
  • Proportion of seats are elected using FPTP in single-member constituencies.
  • A smaller number of seats, additional members, elected in multi-member constituencies
  • Voters give one vote for their constituency candidate, and one for their prefered party from a party list.
  • List seats allocated on corrective basis to ensure an overall proportional distribution of seats using the ‘Hondt formula.
  • In London Assembly, minimum threshold of 5% of vote needed to win any seats.
29
Q

What are the advantages of AMS?

A
  • Balances proportionality with constituency representation.
  • Results are broadly proportional and fewer wasted votes.
  • Voters have greater choice with split-ticket voting. They can vote for one party for the constituency, and another party from the party list.
30
Q

What are the disadvantages of AMS?

A
  • It creates two tiers of representatives, one with extra constituency duties.
  • Parties have lots of control over lists.
  • Smaller parties are often under-represented because there are fewer party list seats than constituency seats.
31
Q

Give an example of how an alterantive electoral system in the UK has allowed a smaller party to succeed outside of Westminster.

A

In May 2014, UKIP won the EU Parliamentary elections with 26.6% of the vote, despite not having a single MP at the time.

32
Q

Give an example of how an alterantive electoral system in the UK has produce lower turnouts.

A

In 2012, the turnout for Police and Crime Commisioner elections was only 15%.

33
Q

What is direct democracy?

A
  • Origins in classical Athens
  • All eligible citizens participated in votes on key issues
  • All ‘free men’ had right to attend assembly meetings
  • Referenda is an example of direct democracy
34
Q

What is representative democracy?

A
  • Edmund Burke argues you ‘Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgement’, and ‘he betrays you if he sacrifices it to your opinion’.
  • The Burkean view says that representatives need to represent citizens in legislature in their interests. Sometimes representatives may need to make decisions contrary to opinion of citizens.
35
Q

Give an example of a UK referendum.

A

Scottish Independence Referendum 2014:

  • 45% YES, 55% NO
  • 84.6% turnout (very high)
36
Q

Criticisms of referendums in UK:

A
  • They are only used if the government thinks the desired outcome would be achieved. For example, it is unlikely David Cameron would have promised EU referendum by 2017 if he did not think he could win it.
  • Private backers can heavily influence outcomes.
37
Q

Give an example of a local referendum held in the UK.

A
  • In May, referendums held across 10 largest English cities for whether or not they should have a directly elected mayor.
  • Only Bristol voted in favour, but with an extremely low turnout.
38
Q

Arguments for increased use of referendums:

A
  • Extremely high turnout in the Scottish Referendum (85%) and high level of interest in upcoming referendum, suggests referendums could be a vehicle for increasing participation.
  • Increased use of local referendums, such as the 10 referendums for directly elected mayors in England’s biggest cities, suggest they are increasingly a part of our political structure.
  • UK is facing big constitutional questions regarding devolution - such big decisions can’t just be decided by the current legislature, especially when devolution can drastically affect the power of political parties.
39
Q

Arguments against referendums:

A
  • Low turnout (42.2%) in AV referendum in 2012.
  • Thatcher said referendums ‘sacrifice parliamentary sovereignty to political expediency’.
  • Scottish independence, or an exit for the EU, could have such drastic security and geopolitical consequences that it is simply too risky to leave them to referenda (we can’t go back once the decision is made).
  • There are already two seperate pressure groups (both funded by rich private backers), Leave.EU and Business for Britain, that are seeking to sway the referendum result with external funding.

Politics AS (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions