ELECTORAL SYSTEMS UK Sahid version

What electoral systems do the different parts of England use?

-The UK uses the FPTP system

-Scottish Parliament and the Senedd uses AMS

-The NI assembly uses STV

What factors contribute to a strong electoral system?

-Votes 2 constituency link

-Strong & stable government

-Representation of minority views

-Simplicity and Transparency

What are wasted votes?

Votes that don’t contribute to the outcome, whether it be via having a surplus of votes for winning candidate or a deficit for the losing candidate

What is the FPTP system?

This is where a nation is split into different constituencies (650 in the UK) and people in each constituency vote for an MP

-Whoever gets the most seats in the constituency gets the seat and same for the party as a whole, 2nd and 3rd etc get nothing

What are three strengths of the FPTP system?

-Produces a strong and stable government

-Very Simple

-Limits influence of extreme parties

What is an example of FPTP producing strong and stable governance?

After the 2024 election despite winning just 33.7% of the votes labour won 411 out of the 650 seats(63%) with a majority of 174

What makes FTTP ‘s provision of strong and stable gov’t good?

Allows bills to pass easily, which limits legislative gridlock and ensures that the will of the people can easily be met

What is the counter to FPTP leading to strong and stable gov’t?

Theory + Example

FPTP can lead to hung parliaments which are coalition or joint agreement governments as seen in 2010 and 2017

-2010 Cameron & Clegg; Conservatives and LibDems coalition

What is an example of FPTP’s simplicity?

The actual voting system is very easy to do.

The process is instant and easy to understand for voters, election officials, and the media reporting the results. 84% of people were satisfied with the voting system

Give an example of how FPTP limits extreme party influence

In 2010 BNP , the British Nationalist Party, gained 2% of votes but didn’t get a single seat largely due to them coming third or fourth in curtain constituencies

What are three weakness of the FPTP Electoral System?

-It can create an elective dictatorship

-It penalises minority parties

-Produces wasted votes

What does it mean by an elective dictatorship in this case?

FPTP can often lead to a disproportionate correlation between votes and the number of seats gained

Give an example of FPTP leading to an elective dictatorship

In 2024 Labour got only 33.7% of the vote but 63% of the seats(412 out 650) and in the 2019 election Conservatives got only 43.6% of the vote but 56% of the seats( 365 out 650)

Give an example of how FPTP penalises minority parties

In the 2024 election Reform got 14.3% of the vote but only received 5 out of the 650 seats as they came second in 98 of the constituencies

What is the pluralist system?

-Whoever gets the most votes of any candidate wins. The winner does not have to get more votes than all other candidates put together

Give an example of how FPTP produces wasted votes

Eg. in the 2024 election 73.7% of the votes were wasted with over 50% of voters saying they ended up with an MP they did not choose

What is the STV(Single Transferrable vote system)?

This is a form of Proportional Representation where voters rank candidates in order of preference . To be elected a candidate must reach a quota of votes.

All first preference votes are counted and if a candidate reaches the quota they are elected immediately

If a candidate has more votes than the quota the rest get transferred to the next voter’s preference

-If a seat is not filled the lowest candidate gets eliminated and their votes get transferred again

-This happens until all seats are full

What are three strengths of the STV system?

-All the Votes matter

-Produces Proportionate results

-No safe seats as candidates cannot rely on traditional supporters due to transfer of votes

Give an example of how all votes matter in STV

-Very few votes are wasted as voters rank candidates and votes get redistributed

-In the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly Election The Ulster Unionist Party gained 11.2% of first preference votes and still gained 9/90 seats.

Why is this STV’s small number of wasted votes good?

If votes are not wasted on winner only they can be used to further help smaller parties so more voices get heard

Give an example of how STV produces proportionate votes

In 2022 Sinn Feinn won 29% of first preference votes and gained 27/90 seats 30% hence the seats to vote share are very similar and enhancing legitimacy

What are two weaknesses of the STV system

-Leads to weaker government

-Very complex voting system

Give an example of how it creates a weaker government

STV increases the chance of getting a coalition government as it is hard for parties to gain 50% of the seats

-In the 2007 Assembly Election in Northern Ireland it took 8 months of negotiations under the St Andrews agreement for a functioning executive to form

Give an example of the STV system is complex?

As constituencies are massive it can be hard for voters to rank all of them which increases the number of spoiled votes(invalid votes)

-In the 2022 Northern Ireland election 1.3% of votes were spoiled which if appplied on a national level would be 1 million

What is the Additional Member System?

A hybrid system using FPTP and Proportional Representation to convert unfair seats

How does AMS work?

Each voter gets 2 ballots one for the constituency vote where you put a cross next to a local candidate and one for the regional party list where you put a cross for the party

-Constituency seats are counted using FPTP eg. Scotland has 73 constituency MSPs

-Regional Votes are used to make results more proportional eg. Scotland has 56 regional MSPs, this is done via a formula

-After this they decide who the first minister will be and if it isn’t decided within 28 days a new election is called

Give one strength of the AMS system

Allows minority parties to have a say due to the fact if you dont win regionally you can still win in constituencies and vice versa

Give an example of minority party representation in AMS?

In the 2021 Scotland election , Greens won 0 constituency seats but won 8 regional seats and are now in a cooperation agreement with the SNP.

What is the counter to AMS ensuring minority party involvement

-Parties have too much power over selection

Give an example to show how the AMS system give parties too much power over selection?

In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP leadership placed high-profile figures such as Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf at the top of regional lists

-Effectively guaranteeing their election if the party secured sufficient list votes.

Why is AMS party selection over representatives a bad thing?

MPs will be more accountable to the party leader than voteRs

What is the supplementary vote system?

-This is a majoritarian system used to elect a London Mayor

Voters make a first and second preference. First Preference is first counted. If a candidate gets over 50% of votes they win

If no one wins a majority all but the top 2 candidates get eliminated.

-The second preference votes are counted from the eliminated candidates. If the second preference is one of the top 2 candidates it is added to their total

-The candidate with the highest total wins

What is one advantage of SV system?

-Winners have broader support

How do winners in SV have broader support?

Why is this good?

Give an example

-The winner must have over 50% of the votes after second preference. This means the candidate won 50% of the vote in the final counting

-Candidates have a clearer mandate which increases democratic legitimacy

-In the 2021 Mayoral Election Sadiq Khan, running for Labour, was up against Shaun Bailey who ran for the conservatives. Sadiq Khan led on first prefrence vote but only 40% compared to Bailey’s 35%. In the 2nd round he reached 1.2m votes, clearing the 50%

What is the counter/issue with London’s SV system?

It can still create wasted votes

In the 2021 London Mayoral Election over 342,000 second preference votes were discriminated as they weren’t from the top two candidates