The electoral system Flashcards
The Franchise (right to vote) was gradually extended until we had universal suffrage
The franchise was restricted to the property owning classes, gradually the franchise was extended until we had universal suffrage.
1832 great reform act - massively expanded the franchise to all adult men who owned property worth more than £10.
1918 - Representation of the People Act - gave the vote to women for the first time but they had to be over 30 years of age. Men over 21 could vote
1928 representation of the people act - franchise extended to men and women over 21
1969 representation of the people act - voting lowered to age 18
what is a general election and what is a by election
General election - when all 650 mps resign to contest their seats
bY election - election in a single constituency caused by death or the resignation of an mp
2010 coalition gov - fixed term parliaments
2010 coalition gov introduced ‘fixed term parliaments’ of five years. A vote of no confidence in the government or a vote by two thirds of the hoc can trigger an election (the latter happened in 2017). If the full 5 year term is served the next general election will be in May 2024.
Who can vote in national elections
British, Irish, commonwealth citizens normally resident in the uk
must be 18+
must be on electoral register
Who can’t vote
peers sitting in hoc
foreigners including eu citizens
queens and heirs don’t vote although there is no law stopping them
patients detained under the mental health act for crimes.
convicted prisoners - (although echr says this blanket ban is illegal)
people convicted of corrupt or illegal election practices
Who can stand in national elections?
have to be 18+
British irish commonwealth citizen normally resident in the UK
Who can’t
Peers
undischarged bankrupts
patients convicted of crimes under the mental health act
prisoners serving more than one year in jail
people convicted of corrupt election practices
senior civil servants
police officers
members of the armed forces
judges
Plurality voting - first past the post
This is easy to understand, simple, relatively cheap to administer and the votes can be counted quickly.
The candidate with the most votes is the winner. The winning candidate does not need a majority of the votes cast, just more than any other candidate. A candidate can win by gaining as little as 20% of the votes cast.
It is a winner takes all system in which the votes cast for any candidate other than the winner are effectively wasted.
The law is different for local authority elections.
You have to be 18 plus,
on the electoral register and a British, Irish, EU or Commonwealth citizen normally resident in the UK.
EU NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE IN NATIONAL ELECTIONS
To stand as a candidate in local authority elections you have to be
British, Irish, EU or Commonwealth citizen normally resident in the UK,
on the electoral register or a resident for 12 months or have his/her main place of work in the area for 12 months or own a property for 12 months.
Seats in parliament - why it is criticised
Seats are not allocated according to the number of votes cast. For example in the 2015 Ukip gained 3.9 million votes and returned just one MP to Westminster, whereas the SNP returned 56 MPs from a total vote of 1.4 million.
Smaller parties, such as the Greens and the Lib Dems, have long complained that the system shuts them out and as a result MPs in Parliament are not representative of actual political support in the country.
If a party comes second or third in lots of seats they will have a lot of support in terms of votes, but this will not necessarily translate into seats in Parliament.
Alternative voting systems - Proportional Representation
It can be argued that alternative voting systems, often described under the blanket term of Proportional Representation, are fairer in that they allocate seats more in proportion to the votes cast.
But they are more complex, more difficult for voters to understand and it takes longer to count the votes.
It has also been argued that the FPTP system is more likely to result in a decisive result, although the 2010 and 2017 elections resulted in a hung parliament.
What is a hung parliament
There are 650 seats in HOC so if no party reaches 326 this is known as a hung parliament - they can either
Try to govern as a minority administration on a vote by vote basis, which is unstable as they can be defeated at any moment if the other parties gang up on them.
could enter into a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement with other parties whereby smaller parties support the gov on big votes (such as the budget)
or they can try and form a formal coalition with other parties to reach the magic 326 figure e.g. 2010 coalition
Proportional representation - other voting systems
Single Transferable Vote (STV) - Voters mark candidates in order of preference in multi member constituencies. If one reaches the quota (that is, for example, 20% of first preferences in a five member constituency), the surplus votes from that candidate are re-calculated with their second choices now counted as a first choice. (Used in Northern Ireland Assembly elections)
Party List - The parties list their chosen candidates in order of priority and voters invited to vote for that party. Open party lists give voters some say in the order of the lists; in closed party lists voters have no say in the order of the list. (Used in European Parliament elections)
Alternative Vote – This operates in single member constituencies. If a candidate has more than 50% of votes he/she is elected. If not the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and that candidate’s votes redistributed according to second choices.
Supplementary Vote - If no candidate gets majority then all but top two eliminated and votes redistributed according to second choices. (Used in London mayor elections).
Additional Member System (AMS) - Hybrid system where some candidates are elected in single member constituencies according to FPTP and second votes are used to top up from regional lists. (Used in Scottish Parliament elections)
A proposal to introduce an AV system for British General Elections was decisively rejected in a referendum in May 2011.
