Electoral Systems

types of voting systems

• first past the post (general election)- candidate with the most votes wins, has a one person one vote rule

• supplementary vote (mayoral elections)- if there is no simple majority, the two with the most face off against just each other

• closed list system (parliamentary elections)- people vote on a party, not one specific person

• single transferable vote (local and devolved elections in N. Ireland)- voters choose a range of candidates in order of preference and when a candidate reaches the quota of votes, they get a seat

• additional member system (scottish parliament elections)- you do FPTP and then a second election to choose regional members proportionally

electoral systems

• single member districts plurality- each district gets one vote/seat, one wins this seat with plurality (UK, Canada)

• single member districts majority- each district gets one vote/seat, one wins this seat with majority (France)

• proportional representative- groups/sub groups are represented in govt proportionally to the vote (Republic of South Africa, Israel)

• mixed (semi-proportional)- not exactly proportional for minorities (Germany, New Zealand)

• alternative vote- voters rank candidates in order of preference (Australia)