Electoral Systems Flashcards
(34 cards)
What to consider when weighing up the merits of electoral systems
Voter choice
Representation and proportionality
Link between representative and represented
Type of government and politics
FPTP: where is it used and how do you cast a vote?
Used in UK GE’s and local council elections in England and Wales.
Voters cast a single vote by placing a cross next to the preferred candidate in their constituency.
How many constituencies in the UK
650
Average number of voters in a constituency
75,000
What type of system is FPTP
Simple plurality system - candidate with the largest number of votes in the constituency is elected as MP (don’t need a majority)
Gov is then formed by the party with a majority of MPs in parliament
How often are FPTP elections
Every 5 years
Advantages of FPTP: speed and simplicity
- easy to use
- result is normally known early in the morning after polling day and the gov is easily formed, with a swift and orderly transfer of power.
- simplicity and familiarity of FPTP
- more proportional system - coalitions are more likely, forming a government often takes longer as it has to follow negotiations between party leaders
Advantages of FPTP: strong, single party government
- promotes a two party system that gives voters a clear choice and usually results in a clear majority for one party, which then has a strong mandate to carry out its programme of government and being about effective change.
Advantages of FPTP: Exclusion
FPTP excludes extremist parties as success under FPTP requires geographically concentrated support.
Advantages of FPTP: MP - constituency
MP- constituency link
Relatively small size of most constituencies and the fact that a single MP is responsible for those who live within the constituency, result in effective representation of local interest and a strong link between the constituency and MP.
MPs handle correspondence from their constituents and problems their constituents have and hold weekly constituency surgery’s.
Disadvantages of FPTP: lack of representation
- over half of MPs typically don’t command a majority of support within their constituency, with more votes cast against a winning candidate than for them and even lower support when turnout is taken into account.
- this weakens the mandate of each MP, leading to many voters feeling unrepresented and MPs lacking legitimacy.
Disadvantages of FPTP: lack of proportionality at the national level
- lack of representation in constituencies translates to a lack of proportionality at the national level, with votes not translated into seats with any real accuracy, leading to many voters feeling the system lacks legitimacy.
- FPTP exaggerates the support of the biggest party (winner’s bonus), which almost always enjoys a share of the seats in excess of the share of the vote it receives.
- FPTP favours parties whose vote is concentrated rather than spread out across a large geographical area and therefore harms most minor parties.
-FPTP doesn’t reflect the fact that the shared vote for the two major parties has been decreasing for some time.
Disadvantages of FPTP: limited voter choice
- under FPTP, each party puts forward just one candidate, so there is no choice between different strands of the main political parties, which are broad choices
- voters also only get one vote and therefore cant rank their preferences or reflect their political views/preferences more fully, as a system like AMS or STV allows.
THIS OFTEN LEADS TO TACTICAL VOTING
VOTES FOR THE PARTY THAT DOESNT WIN IN THE CONSTITUENCY ARE BASICALLY WASTED VOTES.
- votes are of an unequal value due to safe vs marginal seats - lowers turnout in safe seats
Disadvantages of FPTP: Ineffective choosing of governments
- single party govt can be seen as negative, especially as they don’t command a majority of votes across the county and have major power in parliament, leading to huge changes being initiated by govt with limited legitimacy.
- FPTP has recently failed to deliver single party, majority governments, with a coalition is 2010 and a minority government in 2017.
Why is FPTP used in UK parliament elections?
- suits the interests of the two main parties, who have monopolised government since WWII.
- Labour offered a referendum on FPTP in their 1997 election manifesto, but had no incentive to deliver it after winning independent majority under the current system.
- The 2011 AV referendum was only agreed to by the Conservatives after the Liberal Democrat’s insisted on it in coalition negotiations.
What elections is AMS used in?
Scottish Parliament
Welsh Assembly
Greater London Assembly
How does AMS work
Voters have two votes, one for constituency representatives elected using FPTP and another for a party list which uses multi-member regional constituencies, introducing an element of proportional representation.
- used D’hondt formula
There are fewer list members than constituency representatives and they are hence known as ‘additional’ or ‘top-up’ members.
Advantages of AMS:
- the ‘top up’ party list element introduces an element of proportionality that corrects the disproportionality of FPTP and leads to a highly proportional system overall.
- constituency elect ensures a strong MP-constituency link
- voters have a wider choice than under FPTP. They can vote for a ‘split-ticket’ if they wish, voting for one party for a representative and another for their top-up vote.
- votes are less likely than FPTP to be wasted
- the worst predictions made by critics of proportional representation have not been fulfilled. Coalition governments in Scotland and Wales have proved to be stable and there have not been frequent changes of government.
Disadvantages of AMS:
- creates two different types of members, with some constituency responsibilities and some without. There is little evidence that the second category is seen as having less legitimacy.
- in smaller assemblies, there are sometimes too few seats for the top up elements to correct the constituency element effectively and represent smaller parties, which receive less representation than under a fully proportional system.
- a closed list system is used, meaning that the party leadership ranks candidates in order on the list. It can use this power to limit the chances of dissident members of the party being elected, therefore giving the party a great amount of power and making it harder for parties to be broad churches.
- AMS is more likely to leads to minority and coalition governments which can been seen as weak.
Why is AMS used in elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Greater London Assembly
- AMS was chosen as a compromise that would result in a broadly representative parliament but not involve the radical change of STV, which the Liberal Democrat’s advocated for, and maintain local representation.
- Labour expected AMS would enable it to play a part in government in Scotland and those proved correct until 2007.
- After AMShad been agreed for Scotland it was decided to use the same system for Wales where support for devolution was much weaker and in the Greater London Assembly.
Where is STV used
Northern Ireland Assembly
Scottish Councils
How does STV work
Voters number their choices preferentially
In order to be elected, a candidate needs to achieve a quota, arrived at used the droop formula which divides the number of votes cast by the number of seats contested plus one.
If a candidate reaches the quota on the first round of counting, they are elected and their second preferences are redistributed. If no one attains the quota, the least popular candidate is eliminated and the second preferences of those who voted for the candidate is transferred. This process continues until all of the seats are filled.
STV advantages
- it is a highly proportional system, with a very close correlation between votes and seats.
- voter choice is also very high. Voters can choose between candidates standing for the same party, as well as between candidates from different parties. They rank candidates preferentially, effectively giving them multiple votes.
- in Northern Ireland, it has created power-sharing governments which allows representatives of the two rival communities to work together, helping to end 30 years of the Troubles.
STV disadvantages
- in large multi-member constituencies, the member-constituency link may be weak.
- power sharing governments may bring rival groups together, but they’re still prone to conflict. The Northern Ireland executive has been suspended several times and STV didn’t help the more centrist parties in the long term. DUP and Sinn Fein now dominate, replacing the more moderate parties since 2007.
- counting votes is slow and the results are difficult to understand.
- it can lead to donkey voting.
