voting systems FPTP Flashcards
REPRESENTATION
P- One way first past the post provides fair representation is by producing a decisive result
E - Usually first Past the Post provides an obvious result with one party obviously holding the majority of chairs. This allows them to more easily follow through on the promises they made on their manifesto.
example?
E - For example, in the 2019 general election the Conservatives won a large majority with voters backing prime minister Boris Johnson’s promise to “get Brexit done” and take the country out of the European Union by 31st of January 2020.
REPRESENTATION
decisive result
R - However strong governments with a majority of MPs can implement their policies without having to consider the views of other parties.
e - With a majority of MPs it is almost guaranteed the governing party will be able to pass whatever policies they want, as they will receive a majority of votes in favor of their policies. This provides little representation for the rest of voters who did not vote for the majority governing party.
example?
For example in 2016 the Conservatives introduced a junior doctor contract, meaning that Saturday would be counted as a normal working day for junior doctors, that was widely opposed by the Labour party, the conservative’s main opposition, and the British Medical Association.
REPRESENTATION
P - Another way First Past the Post provides fair representation is that extremist parties are unlikely to get elected.
e - Although some extremist parties will have supporters in some areas, their supporters will not be enough to beat the larger parties such as the Conservatives and Labour running in those constituencies.
example?
e - For example the BNP (British National Party) is an extreme far right political party, however they did not win any seats in the 2019 general election.
REPRESENTATION
extremist parties
R - However, this means smaller parties struggle to gain representation
e - The First Past the Post System clearly benefits the Labour and Conservatives Party, as they are the only two in with a real chance at winning a majority government. This even leads supporters of smaller parties to feel forced into ‘tactical voting’; voting for the party they least mind winning
example?
For example, this is shown in the 2019 election result when the Green Party received 864,743 votes but only got one seat in parliament. meanwhile, it requires 25,882 to elect each
SNP MP.
SIMPLICITY
P - The First Past the Post provides a simple mejority system
E - The system is easily understood, and it is clear how the votes are calculated, with the winning candidate in a constituency gaining one seat in parliament.
example?
e - for example, in the Gordon constituency, in the 2019 General election, SNP’s Richard Thomson received the most votes with 23,885 votes, so he was given the seat in parliament.
SIMPLICITY
simple majority system
R - However, Many winning candidates get less than half the votes cast in their constituency.
E - This means that most governments win on less than half of the vote share.
example?
For example, In 2015, the Conservatives won a majority government with 36.9% share of the national vote. And in the 2019 General Election Conservatives received only 43.6% of the vote share, but 56.2% of the seat share.
