Electoral Systems

What is FPTP?

• Plurality system where the candidate with the most votes is elected but they do not need to achieve 50%

• Used in UK general elections

What is one advantage of FPTP?

• Forms a strong government with a strong mandate

  • Since 1945 there have been 21 general elections and 17 of these have formed single party stable governments which is ~81%

What is another advantage of FPTP?

• Strong MP-constituent link small constituencies

  • Average constituent size consists of 72,000

    • there are surgeries where constituents can go to raise their grievances. MPs can then raise this in parliament

What is another advantage of FPTP?

• It is simple and easy to use

  • Voters choose one candidate with a single vote

What is a disadvantage of FPTP?

• FPTP is not proportional and votes do not translate into seats therefore benefits parties which have concentrated support

  • In the 2015 general election, the SNP’s 1.4 million votes were highly concentrated in Scotland and translated into 56 seats whilst UKIP’s 3.8 million votes translated into 1 seat.

What is another disadvantage of FPTP?

• FPTP actually limits the choice

  • FPTP creates a two party system in which smaller parties do not get enough votes to win seats or elections this caused voters to vote tactically rather than for the party they actually support

    • Theresa May’s constituency, Maidenhead, is a safe seat with the Conservatives winning over 60% of the vote in 2017.

What is another disadvantage of FPTP?

• Governments are often formed without a 50% majority

  • This weakens the governments mandate

  • Unrepresentative of the people - illegitimate

What is STV

• Used in the Northern Ireland Assembly

• Country is divided into constituencies

• Voters number their choice of candidates in order of preference

• candidates must reach a quota if no candidate reaches the quota the candidate with the lowest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed

What is an advantage of STV?

• Promotes positive campaigning because candidates wish to gain transferred votes from other candidates

What is another advantage of STV?

• Seats are highly proportional to votes

  • This means there is rarely any wasted seats

What is a disadvantage of STV?

• The link between MPs and constituents is weak because there are multiple members representing the same constituents

What is another disadvantage of STV?

• Complicated and hard for the electorate to understand

• It also takes longer for the results to be counted and concluded

• Donkey voting

What is AMS?

• Used in Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament

• Voters get two votes

  • One for their constituency representative and another for a ‘party list’ to elect an additional representative

• The seats and the vote cast are then made proportional using the D’Hondt formula

What is an advantage of AMS?

• There is a strong MP-constituent link

What is another advantage of AMS?

• AMS is much more proportional compared to FPTP

What is another advantage of AMS?

• Gives the electorate more choice

  • The electorate has the option to vote for an MP they want to represent them and another vote for a party of their choosing

  • They can support an MP from one party and vote for another

What is a disadvantage of AMS?

• Still not as proportional as other systems and therefore smaller parties are still under represented

  • In Wales there is a small number pf ‘top-up’ seats which favours the Labour Party

What is another disadvantage of AMS?

• Party list candidates have less legitimacy than members elected by the FPTP vote because they aren’t directly elected with a personal mandate from voters.

What is another disadvantage of AMS?

• AMS lacks democratic transparency because the party decides who is on the party list and ranks the order of candidates.

What is SV?

• Used in police and crime commissioners in London and Wales

• The voter has a first and second preference

• A candidate is elected if they get 50% of first preference votes

• If no candidate gains more then 50% then all candidates except the top two are eliminated and the votes are redistributed

What is an advantage of SV?

• It is simple to understand and carry out

What is another advantage of SV?

• It stops candidates winning through having small levels of support

  • SV ensures large support for the winning candidate such as with Sadiq Khan winning 56.8% of the total vote in the 2016 London Mayor election.

What is a disadvantage of SV?

• Votes may be wasted because many votes can be excluded from the final count if their top two candidates are eliminated.

  • In the 2012 London Mayor election, 15% of votes were wasted in round one and over 7% of votes in round two.

What is another disadvantage of SV?

• The winning candidate does not require an absolute majority (over 50%) of votes and so can be elected with minority support - they just need the most votes in total after the second round.

What is a referendum?

• A vote on a specific issue which asks citizens to make a decision often through a yes or no response

What are reasons for holding referendums?

• In response to pressure over a particular issue

  • EU referendum was promised by David Cameron if the Conservatives were re-elected

  • He made this promise because of pressures from UKIP

• A referendum can be called to ensure significant government initiatives have public approval.

  • The 1997 devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales legitimised devolving some powers to both countries.

• A referendum can result from a deal made between political parties.

  • The 2011 AV electoral system referendum was agreed as part of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government agreement in 2010.

Is there a case for increased use of referendums (education)

• Increases political awareness and education of voters over particular issues

  • Some referendums have high awareness and engagement with high turnout such as 81% in the 1998 Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement

  • 84.6% in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Is there a case for increased use of referendums (clear outcomes)

• Referendums with clear outcomes resolve political arguments

  • In 1997 Scottish Parliament referendum over 74% of people voted in favour of a Scottish Parliament which addressed the issue of whether Scotland should have its own parliament.

Is there a case for increased use of referendums (direct voter power)

• It is a chance for the citizens to make decisions directly which is important for democracy

• Referendums hold the government to account between elections

What is a case against increased use of referendums (parliamentary sovereignty)

• Referendums challenge parliamentary sovereignty as decisions are made directly by the public rather than representative MPs who have been elected to make decisions for voters.

  • MPs should make complex decisions

What is a case against increased use of referendums (can be manipulated)

• The way in which questions are phrased and the timing of them can manipulate results

  • The wording of the 2016 EU Referendum was changed from "yes/no" to "remain/leave"

• People may vote with their emotions rather than considering all of the options available

What is a case against increased use of referendums

• usually have low voter turnout

  • The 2011 AV referendum only had a turnout of 42%