Voting Systems Flashcards
What is the purpose of an election?
To
• select representatives to best reflect the interests of the constituency and the individual
• deliver verdict on performance of past government
• decide which government programme the electorate support based on their manifestos
• decide which leader will become PM
• grant authority to whichever party wins election, giving them the political mandate to govern
What is a manifesto?
A statement of commitments made by a party that they would uphold/enact should they be elected to government
Define the phrases ‘electoral mandate’
When authority is granted to a party to
• put into place policies from their manifesto (doctrine of mandate and manifesto)
• carry out actions that promote security and welfare in response to unexpected events (doctors mandate)
2017 General election Party - Conservatives Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
Tory 2017 General election results
• 317 seats (48.8% of HoC), -13
• Votes +5.5% to 42.3%
• Reasons for
- Vote gain: Theresa may seen as more responsible to be in charger (doctors madate)
- Seat lost: Rise in labour votes, marginal seats lost
2017 General election Party - Labour Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
Labour 2017 General election results
• 262 seats (40.3% of HoC), +30 seats
• Votes +9.4% to 42.3%
• Reasons for better result than 2015: increased youth vote, comment on past 7 years of government, distrust of Theresa May, ideology shift, UKIP no longer relevant, SNP call for another Scottish Referendum
2017 General election Party - Scottish National Party Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
SNP 2017 General election results
• 35 seats (5.4% of HoC), -21 seats
• Votes -1.7% to 3%
• Reasons for worse result than 2015: talk of 2nd Scottish referendum, started with high % of Scotland (95%), leave voters voted Tory, Labour shifted more left again
2017 General election Party - Liberal Democrats Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
Lib Dem 2017 General election results
• 12 seats (1.8% of HoC), +4 seats
• Votes -0.5% to 7.4%
• Reasons for result: verdict on coalition, Tim Farron on gay rights, tactical votes in marginal seats to get Labour in power
2017 General election Party - UK Independence Party Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
UKIP 2017 General election results
• 0 seats (0% of HoC), -1 seat
• Votes -10.8% to 1.8%
• Reasons for result: no longer relevant after the EU referendum due to it being their only clear policy
2017 General election Party - Green Party of England and Wales Give the • change in the number of MPs • change in % of vote • Potential reasons for these changes
Green 2017 General election results
• 1 seat (0% of HoC), no seat change
• Votes -2% to 1.6%
• Reasons for result: still seen as single issue, not large enough infrastructure for national competition, strategic voting to get Labour into power
What are the three types of voting system?
- Plurality
- Majority
- Proportional representation
What does a plurality voting system work around?
One candidate having more votes than any other but not necessarily 50%
What are the basic rules of First Past the Post (FPTP)?
- Each constituency returns 1 MP
- Each party nominates one candidate to stand in each constituency
- Voters only have one vote
Give advantages of the FPTP system
- Speedy and simple - single cross ballot, quick transfer of power compared to nations such as Germany and Belgium (18 months in 2010) that use P.R
- Strong and stable government - promotes a clear majority in power e.g. Thatcher allowed to reduce Trade Unions and Blair to make constitutional reform in 1997 due to large mandates
- Excludes extremist parties - e.g. UKIP, right wing, got 3.9 million votes in 2015 but only 1 seat
- Strong link between MPs and constituency - small sized constituencies creates stronger link e.g. surgeries (Catherine West’s on Friday) and easier to lobby (writing letters)
Give disadvantages of the FPTP system
- MPs and government can be elected on less than 50% of the vote - e.g. current government got 42% of the vote yet has control of nation that 58% of people did not vote for —> governments that don’t have popularity vote and thus weakens their political mandate
- Lack of proportionality - despite keeping out extreme parties such as UKIP it ignores the vote of 12.9% of electorate
- Limited voter choice - no variation of spectrum within parties e.g. New Labour v Corbyn Labour, ONCs v Thathcherites
- Votes are of unequal value - small constituencies have votes worth more e.g. 9407 voters in Burkley and 28,591 for Isles of Whight, Electoral Reform Society calculated 74.4% of votes in 2015 were wasted
How does a majority voting system work?
They are designed to ensure the winner receives the majority of the votes
Give an example of a majority system being used in Europe?
The French Presidential vote
• Uses two lots of FPTP, if in the first round someone gains more than 50% they win, if not the top two go through to a second vote where one is guaranteed to get over 50%
Why do elections with multiple candidates not usually use majority systems?
They rarely produce absolute majorities of 50%
Name the majority system used in the UK
• Supplementary vote
How does the supplementary vote work?
- 1 round of voting
- Marking a 1st and 2nd preference
- 2 rounds of counting - of no candidate is elected on 50% the 2nd preference of all the voters who didn’t vote for the front runners are added
- Used for the London Mayoral elections and Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales
What are advantages of the supplementary vote?
- Absolute majority guaranteed
- Shows broad support for the winner - have to be liked/wanted from a broad consensus (Sadiq Khan, largest political mandate in UK history)
- Simple and straightforward to use
- Has allowed some independent candidates to win (12/40 PCCs in 2012)
What are the disadvantage of of the supplementary vote?
- Anyone whose second preference who isn’t one of the two front runners doesn’t have their votes counted at all
- Not proportional as an individual is being elected to office
- A second-placed candidate can win
- Promotes two-party system and disadvantage smaller parties, less representative than FPTP eg London Mayor vote always ends up with Labour v Conservative, Sian Berry of Green Party in 2016 eliminated after first round
What is proportional representation?
It is technically not a voting system but an adaptation of systems that best link the proportion of votes to the proportion of seat in an election
What two proportional representational systems are used in the UK?
- Single Transferable Vote - used in N.I Parliament and Scottish local council elections
- AMS - used in European Parliament, Greater London Assembly, Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament. Combines FPTP and the d’Hondt PR system of vote allocation
How does STV work?
- Vote once
- Candidates ranked by each voter 1 - x (x being the number of candidates running) as they see fit to
- Each constituency elects multiple candidates
Describe the benefits of STV
- Proportional outcome - N.I assembly 5 of votes almost perfectly match seat no. in 2017 election
- Votes have equal value
- Government is still likely to be backed by 50% of the electorate
- Wide degree of party choice and variety within party candidates - eg New Labour vs Socialist Labour
- Few votes wasted
Describe the disadvantages of STV
- MP-constituency link lost
- Complicated, people accidentally spoil ballots
- Multi-party coalition governments = weak and unstable
- Ill-informed dinkey voting
- 5th/6th vote choice isn’t really worthwhile
How does AMS work?
- Candidates elect two people - one elects a candidate whilst the other votes for a party
- Candidate votes are announced (the FPTP element of the vote) and then based on the % of votes the party gets, members are added to ‘top up’ the house to ensure a proportional element to the vote
The strengths of AMS are…
- Best bits of FPTP - rep link to area, likelihood of stable govt = high
- Adds element of PR so votes = seats more directly
- Greater choice of candidate and can split ticket
- Party-list can be seen to encourage greater women and BAME reps - eg
The weaknesses of AMS are…
• Two categories of reps with different degrees of accountability
Low level of additional members means PR isn’t strong
• Most voters don’t split tickets -eg Labour and Tories dominated candidate elections and then gained most no of Add. Members in London Assembly 2016
• Strong governments hard to achieve - eg Scottish Assembly currently running on a 62 minority to SNP with 66 seats in opposition
• Usually, a single party dominates process - eg Labour in the Greater London Assembly, SNP in Scotland
