Elections and referendums Flashcards
(29 cards)
What can electoral systems be evaluated on?
- Proportionality and a fair result- the number of seats should correlate to percent of the vote
- Vote value- votes should have equal importance in determining an election’s outcome
- Promoting participation- should incentivise high turnout
- Strong and accountable government- voters should feel the government can deliver its promises but can directly reward or punish a PM and their party
- Local links- MPs represent a specific area and should enable voters to bring grievances direct to their representatives
- Party power- voters might want an electoral system where they can choose between candidates from the same party to prevent too great centralisation of power and bureacracy
- Party representation- enable a broad range of parties to stand in elections
- Transparency- easy for the public to understand and produces clear results
No one party fulfills all eg FPTP produces a strong govt but is not very proportional
Is FPTP proportional?
No its majoritarian
What is a big issue and pro with proportional electoral systems?
They tend to produce coalition governments but encourage participation
What was the AV referendum?
A 2011 referendum with a 42% turnout
When is FPTP used?
General elections and local elections
When is the Party List/ D’Hondt system used?
European elections
When is AMS used?
Scottish and Welsh Parliament elections
When is STV used?
Northern Ireland Assembly and Scottish local council elections
When is AV used?
The election of Parliamentary select committee chairs
How does FPTP work?
On a majoritarian principle, the candidate with the most votes wins and any runners up, no matter how close, get no electoral reward
How does Party list proportional representation system work?
Parties have numerous candidates ranked for each constituency and the D’Hondt system is used to allocate seats each round. At the start of each round the total votes for each party are divided by the number of seats the party had already won, plus one, the party with the highest remaining seats wins that round
How does the additional member system work?
It is a hybrid system, a mixture of FPTP and PR. Voters have two ballots and two votes, the first is to choose from the candidates standing to be constituency representative and the second is a list of parties standing for election in the region. If a party wins fewer constituency seats than its vote share entitles them to, the ‘extra’ is made up from the seats allocated to the second ballot therefore the system tops up any underrepresentation from constituency results
How does the single transferrable vote system work?
It works on the basis of multi-member constituencies where voters rank their choices in order of preference. A quota is worked out from the number of seats and the number of votes cast. The candidate with the most first preference votes from the quota is then elected. Surplus votes are then transferred to other candidates in proportion to the second preferences. If more candidates than seats are left, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes are transferred to other candidates based on their second preferences
How does the alternative vote system work?
The voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, they can put numbers by as many or as few names as they wish. This is similar to STV but AV retains single member constituencies. There is also no quota. If a candidate recieves over half of the votes they are elected but if this isn’t the case, the last place candidate is eliminated and their second preference votes redistributed. This continues until one candidate has over half of the votes
Is FPTP proportional?
The number of seats won doesn’t directly reflect the votes cast. Parties like Green party tend to be underrepresented eg they won 2.7% of the vote but only one MP
Also exaggerates the performance of the winning party creating landslide results that distort vote shares eg in 1997 Labour had a landslide of 63% of seats on just 43% of the vote
Is PR proportional?
The number of seats won closely relfects the vote share eg in the South East England constituency for the European elections, the Brexit party won around 39% of the vote and 40% of seats
Is AMS proportional?
As can be expected of a hybrid system it falls between FPTP and PR. The Lothians region result had a largely proportionate result with the Scottish Conservative party winning 25% of seats on a vote share of 24%
Is STV proportional?
Its results accurately reflect overall shares of the vote
It is endorsed by advocates of a more proportional system like the Electoral Reform society
Is AV proportional?
It is not proportional. One study of the 2017 election found it would have produced an even less proportional result than FPTP
It ensures every winning candidate has at least tacit support of a majority of voters in their constituency
Does FPTP have good vote value?
Many votes are wasted and people living in safe seat constituencies often feel their vote won’t make a difference and doesn’t matter
Also the thousands of votes cast for smaller parties are wasted, with the two main parties and parties with strong geographically concentrated support eg SNP under represented
Does PR have good vote value?
Much less chance of votes being wasted
The very smallest parties who win around 1-5% of seats may still not win any seats
Does AMS have good vote value?
Less chance of votes for smaller parties being wasted eg in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election the Scottish green party still gained two seats.
But the smallest parties still are unlikely to win any seats
Does STV have good vote value?
The system of preferential voting reduces the potential for wasted votes. Even voting for minor parties can effect the outcome as first preference votes are redistributed
Does AV have good vote value?
There are no disincentives to vote for minor parties and first preference votes can be redistributed to second preferences
It removes the temptation to vote tactically
