Voting Systems

Question 1

What is first-past-the-post?

Answer 1

Each party nominates one candidate per constituency and the voter chooses the candidate they want only. Party candidate with most votes (not majority) in constituency wins a seat in the House of Commons for the constituency. Party with majority of seats (or most) wins the election.

Question 2

What are the advantages of First-Past-The-Post?

Answer 2

• Easy, just tick a box
• Usually produces a clear outcome (2010 only coalition since 1945 Churchill’s war ministry)
• Screens out extremist parties as needs localised support (something that parties like the BNP struggled with)
• Creates direct link between local area and MP

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of First-Past-The-System?

Answer 3

• Winning party can get a relatively very small amount of the popular vote but still win a majority in the HoC (e.g. in 2005 Blair had 35.2% of popular vote but still had a 66 seat majority)
• Forces the voter to vote tactically on many occasions so people don’t vote for who they really want
• Smaller parties (even Lib Dems) struggle to win seats as it requires very localised support

Question 4

What referendum was held on First-Past-The-Post? When? What outcome?

Answer 4

• Referendum to replace FPTP with the ‘Alternative vote’ system
• 2011 (was part of the coalition agreement between Tories and Lib Dems)
• Defeated 69% to 31%

Question 5

How does the ‘Alternative Vote’ work?

Answer 5

1) Voter ranks candidates in order of choice
2) If a candidate gets over 50% first choice votes they are elected
3) If no candidate reaches 50% then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and their second choice preferences are distributed to the other candidates.
4) Process repeats until one candidate reaches 50% (a majority)

Question 6

When is ‘Alternative Vote’ used in the UK?

Answer 6

• London Mayoral Elections

- Major party leader elections

Question 7

How does the ‘Single Transferable Vote’ (STV) system work?

Answer 7

Requires multi-member constituencies and parties field the maximum number of candidates they think can get elected.

1) Voters rank candidates in order of choice
2) First around votes are counted and then a quota is set (Quota = Number of votes/Number of seats in Constituency + 1)
3) If a candidate gets over the quota they are elected and their surplus votes are distributed based on second choice preference
4) If the second person is not above the quota then the bottom choice is eliminated and their preference votes are distributed
5) Finished when all seats are filled (if taken to last round the candidate nearest to the quota wins even if they don’t reach it)

Question 8

Where in the UK is the STV used?

Answer 8

• All Northern Irish elections (except UK general election)

- Used in Scottish council elections

Question 9

Why could AV and STV be beneficial?

Answer 9

• Arguably much fairer
• No tactical voting and gives voter more choice as to who they truly want to vote for
• Helps smaller parties that sometimes struggle with localised support

Question 10

What did Labour do in 1997?

Answer 10

It introduced devolution for Sco, Wal, NI and London and so they all had their own assemblies/gov’ts. Big cities also got their own Mayors.

Question 11

What is the Additional Member system? How does it work in Scotland?

Answer 11

When the voter votes for two different candidates. E.g. in Scotland, the voter votes for a local member by FPTP, the other is a regional list party vote where a voter votes for just a party. 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the FPTP system. A further 56 are returned from 8 additional member regions, each electing 7 MSPs.

Question 12

Where (other than Scotland) uses the additional member system?

Answer 12

• Wales

- Greater London assembly

Question 13

How has FPTP survived in Westminister when it most of Western Europe uses different systems?

Answer 13

• It produces outcomes that support the two major parties that have monopolised government since 1945
• Familiar to British public and really easy to use

Question 14

Why was Additional Member System for the devolved governments and assemblies?

Answer 14

• Less of a radical change than STV would’ve brought
• Reflects greater population whilst also retaining an element of geographical representation
• Labour thought it would help them dominate the Scottish Parliament (true up to 2007)

Question 15

Why was STV adopted for NI?

Answer 15

Highly proportional and limits chance of single-party domination which would damage the fragile peace between Catholic Nationalist and Protestant Unionist agreements due to the Good Friday Agreement. STV should ensure that Stormont is a power sharing body drawn from both sides of the divide.

Question 16

When was the first referendum held in the UK?

Answer 16

1975

Question 17

When have referendums been more frequently used since?

Answer 17

1997

Question 18

What were the 2 major referendum case studies?

Answer 18

• 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum (voted no 55.3%)

- 2016 Brexit Referendum (voted leave 51.9%)

Question 19

What are the largest parties in UK parliament (FPTP)?

Answer 19

Conservative 359
Labour 199
SNP 45
Lib Dem 13
DUP 8 and Sinn Fein 7
Independent 7
4 parties all have 2 or less MPs

Question 20

Who are the biggest 3 parties in Scottish Parliament (AMS)?

Answer 20

SNP 64
Conservative 31
Labour 22

Question 21

Who are the biggest 3 parties in terms of Scottish constituencies in UK parliament (FPTP)?

Answer 21

SNP 48
Conservative 6
Lib Dem 4

Question 22

Who are the biggest 2 parties in England (FPTP)?

Answer 22

Conservatives and Labour

Question 23

Who are the 3 biggest parties in the Welsh Senedd? (AMS)

Answer 23

Welsh Labour 30
Conservatives 16
Plaid Cymru 13

Question 24

Who are the biggest 3 parties in terms of Welsh constituencies in UK parliament (FPTP)?

Answer 24

Labour 22
Conservatives 8
Plaid Cymru 4

Question 25

Is there any major difference in party representation in Wales between FPTP and AMS?

Answer 25

No. Same 3 major parties. In Welsh parliament Plaid Cymru is closer to Conservatives but that could be attributed to the fact that Plaid Cymru may be seen as the better option for Welsh parliament beside they are a Welsh party.

Question 26

Is there any major difference in party representation in Scotland between FPTP and AMS?

Answer 26

No. Same big 3. Scottish greens more represented in AMS and SNP is slightly less represented.

Question 27

Who does FPTP benefit?

Answer 27

Major parties with strong support across geographical regions and the electorate, not just concentrated in pockets or very specific demographics.

Question 28

Who does FPTP benefit in each area of the UK?

Answer 28

England and Wales = Conservatives and Labour
Scotland = SNP
NI = DUP and Sinn Fein

Question 29

Who is NI’s biggest party with FPTP? (UK parliament)

Answer 29

DUP 8 (vs Sinn Fein 7)

Question 30

Who is NI’s biggest party with STV? (NI assembly)

Answer 30

Sinn Fein 27 (vs DUP 25)

Question 31

Why is there a difference in the top party with different voting systems in NI?

Answer 31

3 year difference. NI assembly election in 2022, General Election in 2019. NI is also an exception, one demographic will almost always vote one way and the other the other, it is heavily polarised, therefore population growth amongst Catholics could explain the Sinn Fein victory and not voting system.

Question 32

Who are the three big parties in Scottish council (STV)?

Answer 32

SNP 453
Labour 281
Conservatives 215

(Worth noting independents got 152, showing how this voting system allows for smaller party and independent representation)

Question 33

How do different voting systems correlate to the biggest three parties in Scotland in different centres of power?

Answer 33

FPTP (UK parliament) = SNP, Con, LibDem
AMS (Scottish Parliament) = SNP, Con, Lab
STV (Scottish councils) = SNP, Lab, Con

Gaps between parties are much closer in AMS and STV than in FPTP. In FPTP the gap between SNP and conservatives is huge. In council elections Labour had more than half of the seats of the SNP.