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Paper 1 Politics > Electoral Systems > Flashcards

Electoral Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What to consider when weighing up the merits of electoral systems

A

Voter choice

Representation and proportionality

Link between representative and represented

Type of government and politics

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2
Q

FPTP: where is it used and how do you cast a vote?

A

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.

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3
Q

How many constituencies in the UK

A

650

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4
Q

Average number of voters in a constituency

A

75,000

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5
Q

What type of system is FPTP

A

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

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6
Q

How often are FPTP elections

A

Every 5 years

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7
Q

Advantages of FPTP: speed and simplicity

A
  • 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
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8
Q

Advantages of FPTP: strong, single party government

A
  • 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.
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9
Q

Advantages of FPTP: Exclusion

A

FPTP excludes extremist parties as success under FPTP requires geographically concentrated support.

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10
Q

Advantages of FPTP: MP - constituency

A

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.

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11
Q

Disadvantages of FPTP: lack of representation

A
  • 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.
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12
Q

Disadvantages of FPTP: lack of proportionality at the national level

A
  • 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.

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13
Q

Disadvantages of FPTP: limited voter choice

A
  • 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
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14
Q

Disadvantages of FPTP: Ineffective choosing of governments

A
  • 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.
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15
Q

Why is FPTP used in UK parliament elections?

A
  • 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.
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16
Q

What elections is AMS used in?

A

Scottish Parliament

Welsh Assembly

Greater London Assembly

17
Q

How does AMS work

A

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.

18
Q

Advantages of AMS:

A
  • 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.
19
Q

Disadvantages of AMS:

A
  • 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.
20
Q

Why is AMS used in elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Greater London Assembly

A
  • 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.
21
Q

Where is STV used

A

Northern Ireland Assembly

Scottish Councils

22
Q

How does STV work

A

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.

23
Q

STV advantages

A
  • 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.
24
Q

STV disadvantages

A
  • 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.
25
Q

Why is STV used where it is

A
  • due to the background of conflict between the two communities, it was important to avoid single-party domination, which could’ve derailed the fragile peace process.
  • lack of single member constituencies is also less of a problem as representatives represent religious communities more than they do geographical communities.
26
Q

Where is Supplementary vote used?

A

London Mayor and other elected mayors

Also used to be Police and crime commissioners in England and Wales - but was switched back to FPTP

27
Q

How does SV work

A

Each voter is allowed a first and second preference

Any candidate who receives, more than 50% of the first preference votes is selected automatically. If this doesn’t occur, all candidates except the top two are eliminated and the second preference votes for the two candidates are added to produce an overall winner.

28
Q

Advantages of SV

A
  • ensures broad support for the winner (Sadiq Kahn has the biggest mandate of any elected politician in British history)
  • simple and straightforward to use
  • gives voters a greater choice than FPTP, as they can indicate a second preference and choose their desired candidate whilst also choosing between the two candidates most likely to win.
  • it has allowed some independent candidates to win.
29
Q

Disadvantages of SV

A
  • the winner doesn’t need to get an absolute majority of the votes cast.
  • to have influence over the outcome, voters need to be able to identify the likely top two candidates which isn’t always clear, with the exception of London.
30
Q

Why is SV used to elect mayors

A
  • both AV and SV were considered but SV was chosen partly because its easier to use.
  • it was also preferred as only the top two candidates after the first preferences has been counted would make it to the final round. This meant that candidates with little positive support would be less likely to win merely because they were a lowest common denominator second or third choice. In this way the winner would have a clear mandate.
31
Q

Comparing systems: voter choice

A
  • choice is highest in STV, lowest in FPTP and AMS is in the middle
  • ability of voters to vote more than once and indicate different preferences in both STV and AMS leads to greater voter choice than in FPTP, where voters only get one vote.
    This results in fewer votes being wasted and less tactical voting.
  • voter choice can be seen as being at the expense of simplicity and ease of use for voters however.
32
Q

Comparing systems: Representation and proportionality

A
  • STV is the most proportional system, with FPTP being the least proportional and AMS more proportional than FPTP, though less than STV
  • Droop formula and lack of single member constituencies ensures STV is highly proportional. The corrective top up element of AMS ensure it is also very proportional, though it is still often less proportional for smaller parties and in systems such as Wales where there are few members elected.
  • key criticism of FPTP is its disproportionality.
  • proportionality can be seen as being at the expense of single party government and the speed of the government selection process.
  • UK parliament elections have the highest turnout of all the systems.
33
Q

Comparing systems: Link between representative and represented

A
  • FPTP has the strongest link
  • AMS has a strong link still and STV has a weaker link
  • in FPTP all members are constituency representatives unlike in AMS so stronger link

-STV has multi-member constituencies which are too large for their representatives to know well.

34
Q

Comparing systems: type of government and politics

A
  • STV is designed to result in power-sharing coalition governments and has done so effectively in Northern Ireland, though these governments have been very fraught with frequent government shutdowns and a lack of cooperation. This can in part be seen as specific to the context in Northern Ireland though.
  • despite recent elections FPTP does usually result in a strong majority single party governments that can carry out all their election manifestos, with little need for cooperation and a very conflictual political system.
  • AMS has resulted in more coalition and minority governments. These often take longer to form than in FPTP, but have been largely stable. NEGOTIATIONS WHICH REMAIN RARE AT WESTMINSTER, ARE THE NIRMAL WAY IN WHICH BUSINESS IS CONDUCTED IN EDINBURGH AND BELFAST.
  • votes take longer to count under STV, delaying government more than in AMS and FPTP.

Paper 1 Politics (24 decks)

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