First Past the Post

Question 1

How many seats in Parliament

Answer 1

650

Question 2

‘Winner takes all’

Answer 2

Relative Majority System

Question 3

Two Horse Race

Answer 3

Over-represents at least one of the two main parties whilst it under-represents national 3rd parties

Question 4

Constituencies

Answer 4

The candidate in each constituency who has the largest no. of votes is elected
Party needs to win a majority in HOC to gain gov

Question 5

Winning an election

Answer 5

Sometimes a party has won an election having obtained less votes than its closest rival
1951 - Labour won more votes but Conservatives won more seats
Feb 1974 - Conservatives beat Labour 200,000 total votes but ended w 4 fewer seats

Question 6

Landslidesssss

Answer 6

1997 - Tony - won 43.3 % votes

This converted into landslide of 63.4% of the available seats

Question 7

Advantages!!!!!

Answer 7

Immediately know who is to form gov
Usually provides strong stable single party gov w overall majority - coalition used to be virtually unknown - but 2010 & 2017 !!!
Provides Rough justice - broadly reflects the tide of popular opinion
Single-member constituencies - close relationship
System is easy to understand

Question 8

Disadvantages !!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Election results do not reflect the views of the electorate as a whole
Number of seats won by parties does not reflect the number of votes cast for each of them
Party winning election can have fewer votes than rival - Feb 1974
Over-represent - Tony landslide
No election since 1945 has won majority of votes cast

System is harsh on small parties - under-rep
also encourages under-rep of minority groups
HOC - overwhelmingly white, male and middle class

Question 9

Where is this system used

Answer 9

UK GENERAL ELECTIONS