Electoral Systems

Question 1

What type of system is FPTP?

Answer 1

Plurality

Question 2

How do you win under FPTP?

Answer 2

One more vote than the candidate in second place

Question 3

What type of system is AMS?

Answer 3

Hybrid system of FPTP and closed party list

Question 4

What type of system is STV?

Answer 4

Proportional

Question 5

What type of system is SV?

Answer 5

Majoritarian

Question 6

What change did the 2022 Elections Act bring in?

Answer 6

Removal of SV to decide metro mayor, London mayor and PCC contests, replaced with FPTP

Question 7

What is a safe seat?

Answer 7

Incumbent (politician or party) has a considerbale majority and the seat tends to vote the sae way election to election

Question 8

what do Bootle, Liverpool Walton and Knowsley have in common from the 2024 GE?

Answer 8

They’re all safe seats - with majorities of over 50%, Lab won all these seats with Reform coming in second

Question 9

what do Hendon, Poole, and Basildon & Billericay have in common from the 2024 GE?

Answer 9

They’re all marginal seats that have majorities of 20 votes or less for the winning party.

Question 10

what is a marginal seat?

Answer 10

a seat held by a small majority which often changes hand election to election. These are the seats that often decide the election outcome.

Question 11

what is a minority government?

Answer 11

a government that lacks a majority of seats in the legislature (parliament). Passing legislation is very difficult and often the largest party after the election will form an informal deal with a a second party to ensure they can pass key legislation

Question 12

what is a coalition government?

Answer 12

a government that is formed of more than one party after a hung parliament where no party wins a majority.

Question 13

what is a hung parliament?

Answer 13

no party has won over 50% of seats to form the government

Question 14

Where is FPTP used?

Answer 14

Parliamentary elections (General elections), local councils in Eng, metro mayors

Question 15

where is AMS used?

Answer 15

Scottish parliament elections, Welsh parliament elections up until 2026

Question 16

where is STV used?

Answer 16

Northern Irish Assembly, Scottish local elections

Question 17

Where is closed party list used?

Answer 17

Wales from 2026

Question 18

How does FPTP work in the context of GE’s?

Answer 18

Electors cast a single vote by placing an X next to preferred candidate name. Candidate require one more vote than second place to win the seat, any further votes are wasted surplus. Candidates can be elected on less than 50% of the vote. Candidates are elected to single member consituencies.

Question 19

what is wasted surplus?

Answer 19

Any vote after the one needed for the candidate to win is wasted as they didn’t technically need it.

Question 20

what is a problem with safe seats?

Answer 20

Turnout is usually low as results are foregone conclusions. Often receive little funding/campaign focus from parties

Question 21

What is a positive of marginal seats?

Answer 21

usually have very high turnout as there is a greater chance of influencing the outcome

Question 22

what was the most marginal seat in 2024 and how many votes decided it?

Answer 22

Hendon - 15 votes

Question 23

how did 2024 buck the trend around safe and marginal seats that had been occurring?

Answer 23

2024 produced a very high number of marginal seats, almost one in five was won y a margin of less than 5% of total votes cast. The amount of very safe seats fell, only five seats were won with a majority of over 50% votes cast, down form 37 in 2019

Question 24

what type of party system is produced by FPTP?

Answer 24

two party system

Question 25

what is the two party system?

Answer 25

two main parties are the only ones with a realistic chance of forming the government. Favours large parties with concentrated support in areas, smaller parties often struggle to win seats due to dispersed support, 2024 showed decline of two party system in westminster

Question 26

what is meant by winners bonus?

Answer 26

the party that wins tends to win far more seats than their vote share

Question 27

why is winners bonus an advantage of fptp?

Answer 27

the party in power often wins a majority of seats which gives them a mandate for their manifesto promises

Question 28

which parties have concentrated support?

Answer 28

Conservatives, Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru

Question 29

which parties have dispersed support?

Answer 29

Greens, Reform, Lib dems

Question 30

what is arguably the biggest advantage of FPTP?

Answer 30

it has almost always led to single-party governments which makes governing easier

Question 31

what is the most significant disadvantage of fptp?

Answer 31

seats don't equal votes. Large parties tend to achieve faer greater seat share than vote share, and minor parties often achieve far less seat share than their vote share. This is arguably undemocratic and can damage the legitimacy of the party in power

Question 32

what system creates a strong mp-constituency link and why?

Answer 32

FPTP because there is a single representative for that constituency who has a plurality of the votes

Question 33

how does supplementary vote work?

Answer 33

voters have a first and second choice of candidate. First choices are counted, if the candidate wins over 50% they are elected, if this doesn't happen, the top two candidates go into a second round of counting (not voting). Second choice votes of all eliminated candidates (those not in the top two) are added to first choice votes for the top two candidates. The winner has an overall majority of >50% of first and second choice votes.

Question 34

what is an advantage of using SV?

Answer 34

Majoritarian system measn the winner has a clear majority

Question 35

what is the most significant disadvantage of sv?

Answer 35

Minor parties rarely do well and are often eliminated

Question 36

what type of constituencies are representatives elected to from STV?

Answer 36

multi-member consituencies (the exact number is decided by the regional government)

Question 37

what are the advantages of STV?

Answer 37

it delivers proprotional outcomes, the most popular candidates overall are elected, voter have greater choice due to the ranking system used, helps smaller parties/independents get elected

Question 38

what are the disadvanytages of STV?

Answer 38

counting is lengthy and the voting system more complex than others like fptp, weak MP-constituency link due to multi-member constituencies, very likely to produce coalition governments that lack a clear mandate

Question 39

describe the different types of seats that are up for election under AMS

Answer 39

Most are single-member constituencies elected using fptp, additional/regional members elected using closed party list

Question 40

why does AMS improve small party representation?

Answer 40

because they are unlikely to win the constituency seats, their % of the vote is likely to be totalled upwards, meaning they're more liekly to win the additional member seats

Question 41

how could closed party list improve the representation of minorities?

Answer 41

Voters aren't able to choose the candidate, just the party and they will be selected from a list the party has put together, meaning they could ensure that minority candidates are the ones becoming the representative

Question 42

How many more representatives will sit in Senedd from the 2026 elections?

Answer 42

36 new seats created, 60 under the old AMS system, 96 using the new closed party list

Question 43

what formula will the closed party list system in Wales use to count the votes?

Answer 43

D'Hondt method

Question 44

what is a clear advantage of closed party list?

Answer 44

the numbe rof seats each party wins is closer to the % of votes they achieve

Question 45

what system do SNP do better under?

Answer 45

FPTP, AMS disadvantages them in the past as they've often been the winner of the most number of consitituency seats

Question 46

what was the number and % of seats and % of vote won by Lab in 2024 GE?

Answer 46

412 seats, 64% seats, 34% vote

Question 47

what was the number and % of seats and % of vote won by Reform in 2024 GE?

Answer 47

5 seats, <1%, 14% vote

Question 48

what was the number of seats won by Sinn Fein and DUP in 2022 NI election?

Answer 48

SF 27, DUP 25

Question 49

what was the number and % of seats and % of vote won by SNP in 2021 Scottish Parliament election?

Answer 49

64, 49.6% seats, 40% vote

Question 50

what was the number and % of seats and % of vote won by SNP in 2024 GE?

Answer 50

9/57 Scotland seats, 1% seats nationally, 30% seats in Scotland), 2.5% vote nationally, 30% vote in Scotland