Elections

Question 1

What is a general election?

Answer 1

Full parliamentary elections in which all the seats in the house of commons are up for re-election

Question 2

What is devolved assembly election?

Answer 2

Elections to Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies, every 4 years

Question 3

What are Local Elections?

Answer 3

Elections to district, borough and county council. There are elections for metro Mayors and the London Assembly

Question 4

What is plurality?

Answer 4

Largest number out of a collection of numbers, a simple majority, not an absolute majority

Question 5

What is majority?

Answer 5

Voting system in which winning candidates must receive an overall majority (over 50%) of votes to win a seat

Question 6

What is hybrid system?

Answer 6

Mixed system which makes use of plurality and proportional to achieve a more proportional outcome

Question 7

What is a multi-member contituency?

Answer 7

a constituency that is represented by more than one elected official

Question 8

What is a single party government?

Answer 8

Government that contains a single party, usually with a majority in parliament.

Question 9

In a STV how many votes to voters get?

Answer 9

The amount of candidates

Question 10

In an STV how do voters indicate their vote on their ballot paper?

Answer 10

Rank their preference by numbers

Question 11

In an STV what type of constituencies are used?

Answer 11

Mulit - member system

Question 12

What is Droop?

Answer 12

Quota

Question 13

What type of government is inevitable in an STV?

Answer 13

Coalition

Question 14

What kind of system is STV?

Answer 14

Proportional

Question 15

How many votes to voters get in SV?

Answer 15

2

Question 16

What must a candidate in an SV achieve?

Answer 16

An absolute majority

Question 17

What happens in an SV if nobody gets a majority in the first round?

Answer 17

All the candidates except the top 2 are eliminated and the losing candidates votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates using their second preferences

Question 18

What is SV mainly used for?

Answer 18

Metro Mayors

Question 19

What was the conservatives vote share and seat share in 1979?

Answer 19

Vote share - 43.9%
Seat share - 53%

Question 20

What is the winners bonus?

Answer 20

When the winning party gains a bonus of seat share to achieve a majority

Question 21

In 1997 what was Labours majority?

Answer 21

179

Question 22

In 1997 what was Labours vote share to seat share?

Answer 22

Vote share - 45%
Seat share - 63%

Question 23

In 1997 what was Conservatives vote share and seat share?

Answer 23

Vote share - 31%
Seat share - 25%

Question 24

In 2005 what was Labours winning vote share and seat share? What does this say about our voting system?

Answer 24

They got 35% of the vote, it tells us that the majority of people voted against the government that got in, making it illegitimate. However, they got 55% of the seats.

Question 25

In the 2024 election what percentage of the vote did Labour and Conservatives get vs the seat share?

Answer 25

Won 57.5% of the vote but 82% of the seats.

Question 26

What was Labours vote share to seat share in the 2024 election?

Answer 26

33.7% vote share and have 63%.

Question 27

In the 2021 Scottish election what are the pros of the system?

Answer 27

- The government had 50% of the vote - It avoids single party governments - more representative, encourages compromise - Broader range of voters being represented - No wasted votes

Question 28

In the 2021 Scottish election what are the cons of the system?

Answer 28

- Coalition governments are typically weaker - Green finished 4th and 5th but managed to be in government - No manifesto for a coalition, harder to hold them accountable/ know what to expect - next election if labour gets in they could form a coalition with green again, not being held accountable

Question 29

In 2017 what was the vote share in Knowsley?

Answer 29

Labour - 47351 - Conservative - 5137

Question 30

What are the problems with safe seats (Knowsley)?

Answer 30

- Many wasted votes - No political equality - why would Labour or conservatives campaign there?

Question 31

Positives of safe seats?

Answer 31

- completely legitimate

Question 32

What are surplus votes?

Answer 32

safe seat votes

Question 33

What are unrepresented votes?

Answer 33

Votes for the parties that lost

Question 34

What are decisive votes?

Answer 34

Ones who contribute to an election

Question 35

What is a marginal seat?

Answer 35

a seat where more than one party could win

Question 36

Pros of marginal seats?

Answer 36

- more competitive - encourages more people to vote

Question 37

Cons of marginal seats?

Answer 37

- tactical voting is encouraged - You could argue that the winner isn't very legitimate