UK POLITICS - Electoral Systems (Improved) Flashcards
(16 cards)
How is FPTP’s proportionality? Give evidence.
Weak due to pluralist, rather than majoritarian, system
- Starmer has 63% of seats and 34% of votes
- Churchill gained a majority despite having less than Labour
How is FPTP’s voter choice? Give evidence.
Poor as only one vote and tactical voting is common
- In 2024 57.8% of votes were either unrepresented or surplus
- In 2024, 1/3 of votes were tactical (Yougov)
Does FPTP create strong and stable governments? Give evidence and a counterargument.
Very strong due to winners’ bonus, providing large majority and clear mandate - Johnson’s 80 seat majority and ‘Getting brexit done’
- Makes them unaccountable, leading to tension in Commons - Fears of a rebellion over Starmer’s PIP cuts
Does FPTP have strong contituency-voter link? Give evidence and a counterargument.
Strong; one constituency and one rep leading to strong link - Zac Goldsmith resigning over Heathrow; Vicky Foxcroft and sending letters over Thames water shortage
- Many people don’t see them as ‘their’ MP, due to unrepresentativeness, leading to apathy - 75% of people can’t name their local MP
Does AMS have strong proportionality? Give a counterargument.
Very proportional, regional seats bring representation in line with ideologies of the public - Stopped a 93% SNP majority in Holyrood in 2019 by giving Labcon 55 more seats; 2016 Holyrood: maximum difference of 5% between the votes received and the MSPs returned.
- Senedd Cymru is moving to a more representative system - the D’Hondt Method
Does AMS have strong voter choice? Give a counterargument.
Strong; Two votes = vote for who they want representing their constituency AND the party they believe in. - Plaid Cymru almost tripled seats in Senedd Cymru, through regional seats
- Many voters may become confused by the two choices - May have been the cause of the 2024 45% turnout to Welsh Parliament elections
- Regional votes are a closed list
Does AMS create strong governments? Give a counterargument.
Weak; regional members lead to smaller or no majority and difficulty governing - No party has won a majority in Senedd Cymru since its creation
- Less political backlash due to unrepresentativeness - 5 MWPs can debate the constituencies different opinions
Does AMS have strong constituency-voter link? Give a counterargument.
Weak; regional representatives are unaccountable to a constituency - 80% of Labcon seats in Holyrood
- More representation = more people feel connected to an MP - SSA Survey (2019): 7.5x people in Scotland trust Holyrood “just about always” compared to Parliament
Does STV have strong proportionality?
Very strong, achieves maximum proportionality by adjusting seats to meet the quota - Average percentage difference between the votes and seats allotted in the Stormont election 2022 was 1.377%.
Does STV have strong voter-choice? Give a counterargument.
Strong; ranking parties allows for maximum (and genuine) choice
- Very complex, often results in donkey votes - 2022 Stormont election received 3x more than the 2024 general elections, as a proportion of the overall votes
Does STV make strong governments?
Weak, created shortly after the Troubles so Westminster wished to avoid a rebellion - No party in Stormont has more than 30% of seats currently; Current Stormont executive has 4 separate parties in it with Sinn Fein with the most at 5/12 seats
Does STV have strong constituency-voter link? Give a counterargument.
Weak; multi-member constituencies confuse people so they don’t know who their representative is
- Representatives are in competition with one another to provide the best service to constituents - Representatives in Malta are considered quite good, due to competing with one another
Does SV have strong proportionality? Give a counterargument.
Supposedly ensures that a candidate has a majority, legitimising decisions - Sadiq Khan won 55% of votes in 2016
- Weak: not actually true, due to ‘non-transferable votes’ not being counted - ERS: Sadiq Khan only mayor to gain a majority in 20 years; 214,000 votes wasted in 2021
Does SV have strong voter choice? Give a counterargument.
Weak; discriminates against smaller parties as they usually don’t gain enough votes to get to the second round - Independent Livingstone was the only non-LabCon London mayor; 214,000 votes wasted in 2021
- More votes are counted as less votes are wasted on smaller parties with little chance of winning - 277,000 votes transferred in 2021
Does SV make strong governments? Give a counterargument.
Strong: one representative, with a ‘legitimate’ mandate - Sadiq Khan won 55% of second round votes in 2016
- They don’t have a majority most of the time - only one Mayor has ever been voted in with more than 50% of the votes (Sadiq Khan) due to the volume of wasted votes.
- Even if we ignore that, most majorities are slim - 2016 election ignored 45% of second round votes
Does SV have strong constituency-voter link?
One representative means strong tie
- Centre for Cities finds that 88% of Londers can identify their Mayor, compared to only 25% who could name their MP
Sadiq Khan is a very famous public figure
