As Politic: Elections And Voting

Front 1

What is an election?

Back 1

A method of filling in office or a post through choice made by a designated body of people; the electorate.
A popular vote in which citizens get a chance to choose their representatives.
Elections should be free, fair and regular (therefore, democratic). e.g. in Britain we hold elections every 4-5 years.
A mandate is given to the winning party at elections.
Universal Suffrage

Front 2

What are the key functions of elections?

Back 2

To Uphold legitimacy
To choose representatives – b/c country divided into constituencies and representatives chosen by citizens in each. Ensuring representation.
To choose govt & PM – party with maj. of seats e.g. Labour 60%
The electorate gives permission to the governing party to carry out the policies in their manifesto i.e. their mandate.
An example of political participation. By exercising a choice between different political parties it gives us the power to decide in which direction the country will go.

Front 3

What are the four types of different systems?

Back 3

Simple majority system – it is not necessary to get over 50% of the vote to win a seat e.g. FPTP.
Majoritarian system – the winning candidate needs to get over 50% of the vote e.g. AV, SV
Proportional system – votes equate to seats e.g. List system, STV
Hybrid system – combines aspects of both Majoritarian and proportional e.g. Additional member system, AV

Front 4

Where is each system used in the UK?

Back 4

FPTP – in general elections.
SV – for elected mayor of London.
Additional member system – for electing Scottish Parliament, Irish, Welsh and London Assembly.
List system – for European elections.
STV – in N. Ireland.

Front 5

How does the FPTP system work?

Back 5

Voters select a single candidate and do so by marking his or her name with an 'x' on the ballot paper.
The country is divided into 650 single-member constituencies.
Within each constituency each person eligible to vote will have ONE vote.
The winning candidate must get more votes than each of the other candidates, but need not achieve 50% of votes.
The political party with the most winning candidates, and therefore seats, goes on to form the government.

Front 6

What are the arguments in favour of FPTP?

Back 6

Clear electoral choice. ( except the 2010 election)
It is simple to understand in relation to other systems i.e. voters have one choice only.
The voter can express a view on which party should form the next govt.
Creates strong and decisive govt and no need for coalitions which can be problematic. Helps to ensure that governments can govern.
Stable government.
It provides a strong link between the MP and their constituency in relation to multi-member systems, (Constituency representation)
The winning party can claim a mandate in terms of seats. Mandate democracy.
Can contain extremist parties, stopping parties like the BNP from holding any power.

Front 7

What are the weaknesses of FPTP?

Back 7

Over-representation of the winning party e.g. in 2005 election Labour won 55% of the seats with just 35% of the votes. Whereas the Lib dems won 9.6 of the votes of the basis of 22% of the vote.
Under-representation of other parties e.g. Lib Dems b/c of regional bias. (Regionalism)
Not completely fool-proof of coalitions. It caused the coalition of 2010 between the Conservatives and the Lib dems.
Wasted votes are an issue because if you do not vote for the winning candidate your vote does not count for anything e.g. 1997, 48.2% of those who voted cast ineffective votes.
Lack of voter choice – party picks candidates and you can only vote for one. If the candidate selected for the party you wish to vote for holds views you strongly oppose it is difficult to choose.
Tactical voting – voting for the least objectionable candidate, or intentionally voting against a particular candidate.

Front 8

How does the AV system work?

Back 8

The country is divided usually into single member constituencies.
Voters would rank their candidates in order of preference (1 being their favourite etc)
If a candidate receives an absolute majority of votes (50% + 1) he/she would be elected.
However if no single candidate gets more than 50%, the candidate with the lowest number of first preferences is "eliminated" from the count, and their ballot examined for their second preferences.
These are then assigned to the remaining candidates in the order as marked on the ballot.
This process is repeated until one candidate has an absolute majority, and is declared duly elected.

Front 9

What are the arguments in favour of AV?

Back 9

The bond between members and their constituencies is retained.
It produces strong and decisive government and coalitions, if ever formed, would be strong.
All MP's would have the support of the majority of their constituents.
It prevents MP's from being elected on a minority vote.
Less need for negative/tactical voting.
Less wasted votes.

Front 10

What are the weaknesses of AV?

Back 10

It does very little to those who are traditionally under-represented in parliament.
There is no transfer of powers from party authority to the voters b/c there is no choice of candidates, and it does not produce a proportional parliament.
2nd/3rd party could gain support on 2nd/3rd preferences as they are least objectionable, but not first choice.

Front 11

How does the SV system work?

Back 11

The country is divided into single member constituencies.
Voters in each constituency have two votes: a first preference vote and a second 'supplementary' vote.
Voters’ first preferences are counted and if one candidate gets over 50% of the vote he/she is elected.
If, however, no candidate manages to win 50% of the vote the two highest scoring candidates are retained – the rest are eliminated.
The second preferences are then examined and any votes received by the two remaining candidates are redistributed. Whoever now has over 50% of the vote, wins.

Front 12

What are the advantages of SV?

Back 12

There is still a link between constituents and MPs.
It overcomes one of the flaws of the AV system; as it is between the first two parties, it is guaranteed that the one elected based on second preference votes has a majority of first preference votes.
It ensures majority support of the winner and creates strong government.
It reduces the number of wasted votes.

Front 13

What are the disadvantages of SV?

Back 13

The outcome of the election may be determined by the preferences of those who support small, possibly extremist parties.
Smaller parties do not have much of a voice – there is still a lot of under-representation.
Votes do not equate to seats – often there is over-representation of the winning party.
Tactical voting could still be an issue.
Winning candidates may enjoy little first preference support and only succeed with help of redistributed supplementary votes, making them only the least unpopular.

Front 14

How does STV work?

Back 14

The country is divided into multi-member constituencies. These constituencies would be much larger than in FPTP and would return more than one representative.
Parties can put up as many candidates as they like and voters have the opportunity to rank all candidates in order of preference.
Seats are allocated on a quota system. For each constituency, all candidates who meet the quota are elected. This quota is calculated on the basis of the droop formula, which is Quota = total number of votes cast/number of seats to be filled.
Electors vote preferentially by ranking candidates in order (1,2,3,4 and so on).
Votes are counted, first according to first preferences. If any candidate achieves the quota, additional votes for him or her are counted according to second or subsequent preferences. Candidates who reach the quota on first preferences are elected.
The surplus votes of those already elected are redistributed to other candidates until all seats are filled.

Front 15

What are the advantages of STV?

Back 15

Competition amongst candidates from the same party means that they can be judged on their individual records and personal strengths.
Gives a much better fit between votes and seats than the FPTP system. Therefore is fairer to smaller parties.
Makes it easier for women and minority candidates to be elected.
The system tends to promote unity by encouraging electors to identify with a region rather than with a constituency.
Multi-member constituencies mean that a higher proportion of constituents will feel they have a representative from the party of their choice.
No need for tactical voting – voters can cast a positive vote in the knowledge that their vote will not be wasted.
Governments are strong and stable b/c founded on the majority support of the electorate.

Front 16

What are the disadvantages of STV?

Back 16

Still not exactly proportional.

Breaks the link between an individual MP and his/her constituents.

Strong and stable single party government is unlikely under STV

Front 17

How does the Party List system work?

Back 17

Minor parties that are denied representation by FPTP are more likely to win seats in the other voting systems.
Closed party list – each party’s list of candidates, ranked according to the party’s preference, is published on the ballot paper.
Voters simply vote for the party, they have no say as to which candidates are elected.
After voting is complete, all votes are counted and each party receives seats in the constituency in the same proportion as it won in that constituency.
A quota, or number of votes required to win a seat, is calculated for that constituency.
Those who become the party’s MPs will be those placed highest in the party list.
Open party list – the voter can vote either for the list as published, or for an individual candidate, wherever the candidate appears on the party list.
Seats are allocated according to the number of quotas won.
UKIP won over 600,000 votes in 2005 general elections but gained no seats due to FPTP, on the other hand because of party list, UKIP has 12 seats in the European Parliament.

Front 18

What are the arguments in favour of the Party List system?

Back 18

Makes it easier for women and minority candidates to be elected.
It is the fairest in terms of party representation. If a party receives 32% of the vote it will receives 32% of the seats in Parliament.
Simple for voters to understand.
The system tends to promote unity by encouraging electors to identify with a region rather than with a constituency.

Front 19

What are the weaknesses of the Party List system?

Back 19

The existence of many small parties can lead to weak and unstable government.
The link between weakened and may be broken altogether.
With closed party lists, voters have little or no effective choice over candidates, only control over which party is in govt. Parties become more powerful as they decide where candidates are placed on the party list.
The large constituencies give little chance for accountability to voters and no local connection between members and constituents.
Could give rise to multi-party coalitions – not v. strong govt.
Gives smaller, more extreme parties a chance.

Front 20

How does the Additional Member system work?

Back 20

It is a 'mixed' (Hybrid) system made of constituency and party-list element.
The country is divided into single-member constituencies AND regions
Each voter has two votes, one for a single MP via FPTP, and one for a regional or national party list.
Half the seats or more are allocated to the single-member constituency. Part and the rest to the party list.
Additional members are decided on proportional basis by comparing the no. of constituency seats won to the no. of party votes achieved. Parties who have performed well on party list but not on constituency. element will be given additional seats.
In 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, although Labour won just over half of the constituency seats (37 out of 63) on the basis of 52% of the vote was corrected by the distribution of party-list seats, this gave Labour 36% of the total seats.

Front 21

What are the arguments in favour of the Additional Member system?

Back 21

The mixed character of this system balances the need for constituency representation against the need for electoral fairness.
Less under-representation of smaller parties.
It retains a number of single-member constituencies. Therefore keeping the strong link between MPs and constituents.
It has produced strong and stable govts in Germany (however, not single-party govts).
The separation of the vote allows the voter to express personal support for a candidate without necessarily helping that candidate’s party.

Front 22

What are the weaknesses of the Additional Member system?

Back 22

The system creates confusion by having two classes of representatives.
It combines many of the faults of FPTP with many of the defects of the list system.
Half of all MPs are not directly accountable to any voters, just to party leadership and have no constituency. i.e. two types of MPs.
The parties would retain power over selecting candidates for constituency seats.
Constituency representation will be less effective than it is in FPTP because of the larger size of constituencies and because a proportion of representatives have no constituency duties.

Front 23

What impact have the different electoral systems used in the UK had on party representation?

Back 23

AMS is more proportional than FPTP therefore better representation of smaller parties e.g. in Scotland there is a Lib/Lab coalition.
Support for Labour maintained as they still receive constituency seats under the AMS system. Do not have overall majority however – LibLab coalition.
Conservatives in Wales are 3rd party so receive 3rd most amount of seats. Reflective of ranking rather than being unproportional.
STV system allowed numerous smaller parties to obtain seats. Given rise to wider range of party representation and much closer fit between votes and seats.

Front 24

what ways can voting behaviour be explained as ?

Back 24

The sociological model focuses on the relationship between social factors and voting

The party-identification model considers voters -e.g- the loyalty or attachment towards a party

The issue model portrays voters as rationally self interested actors

Front 25

What are the long term factors that affects voting ?

Back 25

The long term factors include social class, age, race, gender, region and party loyalty. although this has been affected in recent years by the processes of class dealignment and partisan dealignment

Front 26

What are the short term factors that affects voting ?

Back 26

The short term factors include party policies, the performance and image of parties, the effectiveness of party leaders and tactical consideration