Electoral Systems

Why do we have elections

• In order to form a government full of MPs representing their constituency

• Holds politicians to account

  • Politicians can be voted out by the public if their unhappy

  • Ensures there are consequences for the actions of politicians

  • Serves to limit governments power - the government will carefully consider the actions they take

• Legitimises government and allows them the right to perform their roles (a mandate)

• Shapes a parties policy - good manifesto = good chance of election

What are the positives of first past the post (5)

• Simple system, quick and easy - encourages voter turnout which increase the legitimacy of the turnout

  • Usually know results by the evening of the election

• Direct MP-Constituency link - supports representative democracy

  • MP surgeries - MP to constituents meetings, Recall of MPs Act (2015) - MPs can be recalled if constituents aren’t happy

• Avoids extremist parties as PP’s aim to appeal to the majority in order to gain votes

  • UKIP: Euro-skeptic party that has only a single member of the Senedd as of 2021

• Typically results in one party governments which are more stable and can pass legislation easily

  • Labour 2024, Conservatives 2019

• 2011 Alternative vote referendum: 67.9% of voters were against changing from FPTP (turnout was 42%)

• FPTP can exit without it being a 2 party system

  • 2024 GE: ~ 43% of voters didn’t vote for either Labour or Conservative

What are the negatives of first past the post (9) + evidence

• Favours bigger parties

  • They are more likely to have concentrated vote share in one area where as small parties have vote share dispersed across the country

  • 2024: Green Party had 6.7% of vote but 0.6% of votes - They needed ~500,00 votes per MP while Labour needed ~20,000 votes

• ‘Winner takes all’ outcome

  • 2024 GE: Labour gained 33.7% of votes but 100% of the power

• Over rewards winning party - Disproportional

  • 2024: Labour gained 33.7% of votes but 63.2% of seats

  • 2024 GE DV Index = 30 (FPTP) | 2021 Scottish Parliament = 10 (AMS)

• Lack of a majority vote needed to win

  • Means that some may feel misrepresented as more people may have voted against the candidate then for them

    • 85% of all seats elected their representative on less than 50% of the vote - 2024 GE

• Leads to tactical voting

  • People may vote against parties they dislike instead of the party the actually like in order to keep their least fav out of that seat

  • 1 in 3 voters said they made a tactical vote in 2024 GE

• Leads to 2 party system

  • Causes reduced turnout, tactical voting

    • 2024 had lowest turnout (59.9%) since 2001.

    • The non vote % was higher then any party’s vote share (40.1%)

• Wasted votes

  • ~70% of votes did not directly affect the outcome in the 2024 GE

• Creates marginal seats

  • Voters in marginal seats have disproportionate influence, those in safe seats do not - compromises democratic equality

• Creates safe seats

  • Less accountability for politicians as they know they will still be elected

Which elections is first past the post used in

• Uk Parliament

• London Mayor and Police Commissioner

How does STV (single transferable vote) work

• Each party permitted to put up as many candidates as there are seats

• Voters place candidates in order of preference - they can choose to rank all or some candidates

• When counting, a quota is calculated called the droop quota

• The first preferences are counted for each candidate - Any who reach the quota are automatically elected

• If no one reaches the quota -the candidate that came last is then eliminated with their second preferences reallocated to the other candidates

• The process is repeated until all the seats are filled

• Used in Northern Irish Assembly and Police and Crime commissioners

Positives of STV

• Proportional system

  • Sinn Féin gained 30% of first preference votes and 29% of seats for the 2022 NI assembly election

• Gives voters a very wide choice of candidates

  • Can vote for multiple people form the same party

• Helps small parties and independent candidates be elected

Limitations of STV

• Vote counting can take long

  • 2022 election vote was announced 41 hours later

• Complex system - some voters may not understand

• (NI assembly) 6 representatives per constituency blurs the line of accountability

• Tactical voting - only voting for candidates from party they support

1979 General Election: Context

• Sharp decline in the number of people calling themselves ‘working class’ - eroded Labour’s vote

• Strikes by many public-sector workers: Winter of Discernment Which party was best poised to control union power?

  • bins being left full

  • power shortages

  • disruption of public transport

• UK economy was not in a good state - high inflation, growing unemployment, failing growth

1979 General Election: Policies of the parties

Conservatives:

• Plan a return to free markets - repair economy

• Curb union power - stops strikes

• Right to buy scheme

• Attracted middle class voters

Labour: Traditional labour points

• Curb inflation

• Industrial democracy