Advantages and Disadvantages of FPTP

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  • Created by: carts
  • Created on: 23-05-22 16:11

Advantages and Disadvantages of FPTP

Advantages

  • Produces strong and stable government, usually consisting of a single party
  • Makes it harder for smaller parties to do well and makes it harder for them to gain seats e.g., 2015, UKIP (arguably extremist) gained nearly 4 million votes and only one seat
  • Allows government to be removed from office if voters are dissatisfied allowing for accountability e.g., 1997, Conservatives were removed from government due to dissatisfaction with the leadership of John Major
  • It is simple to understand which can be seen as encouraging voters to participate in politics
  • Allows a single representative for each constituency
  • Has a provision for by-elections should an MP die or resign

Disadvantages

  • Very un-proportional and does not accurately represent the opinion of voters across the UK. e.g., 2005, Labour won 36% of the vote and 356 seats (over 50% of the seats)
  • Millions of wasted votes as it can be argued that votes in a safe seat constituency are wasted on anyone who is not the winning candidate
  • Votes are of unequal value as votes in a safe seat constituency are worth less than votes in a marginal seat constituency it therefore encourages tactical voting
  • Party/Candidate can be elected with less than half of the vote e.g., 2005, Labour won 36% of the vote meaning well over half of the total votes cast were cast against the winning party
  • Single party government can be argued as ineffective as it only approaches issues from one point of view
  • Makes it harder for smaller parties to be elected e.g., Lib Dems consistently do poorly- Labour and Conservatives always do best even if they do poorly by their usual standards
  • Could contribute to low turnout as voters feel that there is no point in voting as they know the result
  • Makes it hard for BME and women candidates to be elected therefore meaning that it is not really socially representative of the UK

Evaluation

Overall it can be argued that whilst FPTP does have its advantages, namely that it produces strong and stable government. However it can be seen that the numerous disadvantages it has far outweigh these as it disproportionality affects smaller parties and parties can be elected to government with a minority of the vote posing the question as to how legitimate they really are. 

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