electoral systems

Where is First past the post used

Main electoral system in the UK

used in Uk parliamentary elections , English and Welsh devolved elections

What is first past the post ?

It’s a plurality → which ever candidate has the most votes wins the seats

How often do general elections happen

Used to take place every 5 years at a fixed date due to fixed terms Parliament act 2011 → overturned in 2022 now have to call an election whenever within 5 years

What are some of the outcomes of FPTP

• 2 party system

• Majority parliment

• Safe seats

• Result not proportional to voteshare

• Rewards party’s with concentrated support

• Tactical voting

Who wants electoral reform

All parties apart from Labour Conservatives and SNP

What are the pros of FPTP

• speed and simplicity

• Majority govs

• Prevents extremist parties

• Accountability

Explain how speed and simplicity is a pro

It’s simple so easy to understand for electroate , might encourage participation

Can get results quickly → Newcastle central declare result in 90 mins after the poll closed

Explain how majority gov is a pro

FPTP gives clear majority to one party so allows gov the mandate to carry out manifesto pledges

• thatcher late 80’s = reform to trade unions + privatisation

• Blair in 97 = constitutional reforms

• Johnston 2019 = Brexit

Explain preventing extremist parties is a pro

Unpopular opinions dont have broad appeal to consituencys , support is not concentrated, so dont achieve seats

—> British National Party = won 2 seats in EU parliment which uses a proportional system but 0 in the general election with FPTP

Explain accountability is a pro

Clear who’s in gov so they are held responsible for descitions → 2024 electorate disillusioned by 14 years of conservative rule so electroate change it causing a Labour majority gov

Creates strong link between MP and consituencys → Corbyn voted in Islington as a independent after barred from Labour Party because he was liked by consituents

What are some cons of FPTP

• disproportional outcomes

• Bad for smaller parties

• Voter disadvantage

Explain disproportional outcomes as a con

Gov can form on a minority of the vote e.g Labour 2024 , Blair 2005 - this weakens the mandate of the party + likeability of the electorate

Last time gov was in Parliament with the majority of voteshare was 1935

Minority rule - must people voted against the labour gov in 2024

Explain bad for smaller parties as con

FPTP favours concentrated support making it harder for smaller parties to break through in parliament

• reform had 14% of national vote achieveing 5 seats in parliment - where disadvantaged seats wise for having dispersed support

• UKIP had 14% of national vote only achieveing 1 seat in parliament in 2015

• Change UK example of a failed smaller new party

Explain Voter disadvantage as a con

Due to FPTP a high number of votes are ‘wasted’ as they dont achieve an outcome → in 2024 only 1 in every 4 votes affected the outcome

Tactical voting - people dont vote for who they actually want → 2024 40% of voters considered voting tatically

Depending on the safety of a seat it will affect the wright of a vote → in 2024 labour needed 23,500 votes to secure a seat where as reform needed 820,000 to secure a seat

How dose 2024 show the outcomes of FPTP

FPTP provided accountability to Torie gov - lost 1/3 of seats and vote share fell from 13.9 million to 6.8 million

Maintained 2 party system - 2 party voteshare was 57% but had 80% of seats

Reform came third in vote share but only rewarded by 5 seats

Where is Supplimentary voting used

Used in elected moral elections + police crime commissioner until 2022 when it was overturned by Elections Act

How SV dose work

Voters have 2 votes and vote for a first choice and a second choice

First choice votes are counted and if one candaite has over 50% then they win - if not then top 2 candidate go forward and 2nd choice votes are counted towards total

Facts on mayoral election 2021

Sadiq khan and Shaun bailey continued - khan won

Khan - 40% first round , with 2nd vote was 55%

Bailey - 35% first round , 45% with 2nd vote

Advantages of SV

• Less votes are wasted

• Winner has majority of vote - has greater legitimacy

• More voter choice due to second vote

• Simple to understand

• May encourage candidates to campaign more broadly as 2nd vote counts

Disadvantages of SV

• the weight of 2nd vote against 1st vote

• Tactical voting still used

• Not proportional system just majoritarian system - could be argued not even majoirtian as 2021 PCC elections 13 voted with less than 50% of the vote share

• Still creates a 2 party system - in 2021 all but one PCC came from Labour or Conservatives

• More spoiled ballots ( what the conservatives argued to overturn it in 2022) - 12% more spoiled ballots in SV 2015 elections than in GE

Where is Additional memeber system used

Used for Scottish parliment + welsh assembly + Greater London Assembly

How dose AMS work

Voter has 2 separate votes on 2 separate ballots

Purple = FPTP consituencys

Peach = peach

Explain the purple ballot of AMS

• uses FPTP

• 73 members of Scottish parliment are elected this way

Explain the peach ballot in AMS

• proportional region representation

• Scotland divided into 8 regions - each region has 7 representative

• Regional vote is for party not a member

• Calculated by the d’hondt formula

What are the outcomes of AMS

A multi party system

→ 2021 Scottish parliment elections greens won 0 consituenys but 8 regional representatives ( additional members)

→ SNP formed a majority gov once in 2011 but in both Scot + wales have been minority deals / coalitions

What are the advantaged of AMS

More choice of candidates for voters

Leads to multiparty system

More representative as theres both consituency and regional

Awards dispersed support

What are some disadavnted of AMS

Less efficient form of gov as it leads to minority gov + hung parliments

Still has safe seats + wasted votes

More complicated for electorate , more spoiled ballots

Creates tention between consituency and regional members

Regional you vote for party - so candidates put forward are loyal to party and not good reps

Where is single transferable vote used

Northen Irish assembly

What type of system is STV

Proportional system - party roughly wins the same number of seats as vote share

How dose STV work

18 multi member consituencys - each have 5 representatives

Voters have 5 votes and vote in order of prefrence - dont have to use all 5

To be voted in you need to forfill a quota of votes this is calculated by the droop formula

1st choice votes are counted and the candidate with the lowest votes is knocked out and people who voted for them 1st there vote is transferred to there second choice → eleimates wasted votes

This then continues

What are the outcomes of STV

Proportional system where power is shared - this is due to the troubles in NI so it forces catholics and Protestants to work together

Multiparty system

No wasted votes

What are the advantages of STV

Lack of safe seats - candidates have to listen to electraote and campaign to all

Achieves proportional outcomes - everyone is represented

No wasted votes - people feel more inclined to vote

More choice - have 5 votes + partys can have multiple candidate

What are the disadvantages of FPTP

Takes a long time to work out results

Complicated to electorate

Leads to more minority and coalition govs → less decisive gov + instability

Donkey voting = people only care about who they vote for first

Should 2,3,4,5 votes be weighted the same as 1st choice ?