Voting Systems

Question 1

Name the three voting systems used in UK politics, and where they are used.

Answer 1

AMS - The Additional Member System - Scottish Parliament Elections

FPTP - First Past the Post - UK General Elections

STV - Single Transferable Vote - Scottish Council Elections

Question 2

Which system is the most proportional?

Answer 2

STV.

Question 3

How many more seats did the SNP get than UKIP in 2015?

Answer 3

UKIP won 12.6% of the vote, yet they only won a single seat in parliament, whereas SNP won 7.9% of the vote, yet they won 56 seats (56x UKIP’s seats).

Question 4

What are ‘marginal seats’?

Answer 4

Seats which attract all the attention of political parties in order to gain their votes because they are not loyal to one party.

Question 5

What are ‘safe seats?’

Answer 5

Safe seats are when the odds are firmly stacked against any voters looking for change, this areas are loyal to parties, and therefore ‘safe’. The average constituency last changed parties in the 1960’s. These seats are estimated to constitute 400 out of 650 seats.

Question 6

Explain the concept of ‘wasted votes’.

Answer 6

The electoral reform society reckons that more than half of all voters voted for losing candidates.

Question 7

Does FPTP stop extremist parties gaining power?

Answer 7

Sometimes, however the BNP (British National Party) had councillors in England who were elected by FPTP. The BNP has never won any Scottish Parliament seats via the AMS or any Scottish Council Seats via the STV.

Question 8

Is FPTP friendly to small mainstream parties?

Answer 8

No, it’s much harder for smaller parties to get in power.

Question 9

What is FPTP’s relationship with small parties?

Answer 9

Small parties such as the Greens, UKIP, and even the Lib Dems struggle to gain power.

Question 10

What are some positives of FPTP?

Answer 10

It usually provides a decisive result and a government with a clear mandate to deliver on election promises. This happened in 1997, 2001, and 2005 with Blair’s Labour, however not with 2017 under May’s Conservatives. (Majority Government)

Question 11

What are the positives of Majority Government?

Answer 11

Allows for government to pass legislation fast and easy, it is good for the economy as businesses like stability. They like to know interest rates, currency rates, inflation rates, and long term government policy.

Question 12

What are the negatives of Majority Government?

Answer 12

“Absolute powers corrupts absolutely”, the Iraq war could have been avoided if more opposition was available.

Question 13

What are the positives of the AMS?

Answer 13

Can create coalitions easier, less confrontational politics, more compromise through coalitions. Helps smaller parties gain power.

Question 14

What were the results of the 2016 Scottish Parliament Elections?

Answer 14

SNP - Vote Share: 41.7% | Seat Share: 48.8%
SCONS - Vote Share: 22.9% | Seat Share: 24%
SLAB - Vote Share: 19.1% | Seat Share: 18.6%
SGREENS - Vote Share: 6.6% | Seat Share: 4.6%
SLIBDEMS - Vote Share: 5.2% | Seat share: 3.9%

Question 15

Is AMS the most proportional voting system?

Answer 15

No, the Single Transferable vote is.

Question 16

How did STV effect % of seats earned in the 2017 Scottish Council Elections?

Answer 16

SNP: % vote - 33% | % seats - 35%
SCONS: % vote - 25% | % seats - 22%
SLAB: % vote - 20% | % seats - 21%
SLD: % vote - 7% | % seats - 6%
SGREE: % vote - 4% | % seats - 2%
IND: % vote - 11% | % seats - 14%

Question 17

What are the advantages of STV?

Answer 17

It is the most proportional system used in the UK, it creates coalitions, which means more compromise is made in politics.

Question 18

What are current examples of coalitions caused by STV?

Answer 18

In the 29 mainland local authorities, there is no one party with an overall majority. SNP is running a minority government in Glasgow City. The coalition between SNP/Lib Dems/Independents in the Scottish Borders has been be replaced by a Conservative/Independent coalition.

Question 19

How many people voted independent in the 2017 Council Elections?

Answer 19

Near 200,000 - 10% of the total - gave their first preference to independent candidate who won 168 seats across the country.

Question 20

How many people voted Scottish Greens in the 2017 Council Elections?

Answer 20

They won 4.1% of the preference votes and 19 seats.

Question 21

How many people voted Scottish Lib Dems in the 2017 Council Elections?

Answer 21

6.8% of the share of first preferene votes and 67 seats.

Question 22

What is ‘Alphabetical Voting’?

Answer 22

A BBC Scotland enquiry found that voters rank candidates in alphabetical order, as that is the order candidates are presented on the ballot. Parties with more than one candidate in a ward, they returned alphabetically in 78% of cases.