Electoral Systems Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is a manifesto?
The document published by each party before the election, outlining the vision and programme the party plans to follow should it win the election
What is the doctrine of the mandate?
The party who wins an election have the authority to form a government, put into practice the policies set out in their manifesto, follow policies not in the manifesto if unforeseen circumstances arise
What is the Salisbury convention?
A British political tradition that the House of Lords tends not to try to obstruct policies which were in the governments manifesto at the time of the election
What is a wasted vote?
A vote that does not affect the outcome of the election as it is cast for a losing candidate or for a candidate who already has sufficient votes already
What is a safe seat?
A seat/constituency that rarely changes hands and is consistently won by the same party
What is simple plurality?
The latest number out of a collection of numbers
What is tactical voting?
Voting not for your preferred party but for the least bad party to defeat the worst party
What is a marginal seat?
A seat/constituency with a small majority which is therefore considered winnable by more than one party
What are the features of FPTP
Single member constituency
Voter puts an X next to their favourite candidate
The candidate with the most votes is elected to represent the constituency
Where is FPTP used in the UK?
The House of Commons, Westminster
Local elections
The Mayor of London elections since the Elections Act 2022
What are the features of Supplementary Vote?
Single member constituency
Voter selects their favourite candidate and a second favourite
If a candidate gets 50% of first preference they are elected l, if not then all candidates apart from the top two are eliminated and their second preferences distributed to get the winner
Where is Supplementary vote used in the UK?
Nowhere - was used in the London Mayor elections until 2022
There was a worry London citizens would not take the Mayor seriously
SV would make sure that at least half of voters supports them
What are the features of Single Transferable Vote?
A multi member constituency
Voter ranks all the candidates (party’s can have multiple MPs won in each constituency)
The Droop quota is used to calculate how many votes is needed to be elected
Any candidate with enough 1st preferences to meet the quota is elected
If they have more votes than needed they are redistributed to other candidates
The redistribution may give enough candidates the votes to be elected
If seats are still available the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated and the votes redistributed
Where is STV used in the UK?
Northern Ireland as it helps with power sharing between catholic and protestant parties - Good Friday Agreement 1998
What are the features of Additional Member System?
Each voter casts two votes, one for their constituency and a party
The constituency element works in the same way as FPTP
The party element means parties suffering from FPTP but with a lot of votes for the party get top up seats
Where is AMS used in the UK?
The London Assembly
Welsh Parliament elections
Scottish Parliament elections:
- Labour was so popular FPTP would make them the most dominating party
- This would make parliament irrelevant for any other voter
- Blair wanted the devolution work so used a fairer system (he knew SNP would never get a majority)
What are the features of Closed Party List?
The voter votes for their favourite party
Before the election the party publishes a rank of their MPs
The percentage of votes a party gets is the amount of seats they get
What is a plurality system?
Electoral systems which require candidates to gain more votes than their opponents to win the seat but not necessarily an absolute majority
Exp: First Past the Post
What is a majority system?
Electoral systems which require candidates to gain an absolute majority of the votes to win
Exp: Supplementary Vote
What is a hybrid system?
Electoral systems which include both plurality/ majority and proportional elements
Exp: Additional Member System and Alternative Vote
What is a proportional system?
Electoral systems which attempts to accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast for parties with the proportion of seats they win
Exp: Single Transferable Vote and Closed Party system
What type of party system do plurality systems create?
Usually a 2 party systems - 18/21 elections in Westminster between 1945 and now
Occasionally 3 party system - 2010 Conservative and Lib Dem coalition and 2017 confidence and supply agreement with DUP
What party system does proportional systems result in?
Multi party systems - NI Assembly LaGs results in coalitions
What is Duvergers Law?
Plurality system usually end with a 2 party system while proportional have multi party system
