Electoral systems

System used in UK general elections

• The country is divided into Constituencies (650)
• Each constituency return one Member of Parliament
• At elections each party presents one candidate
• The winner of constituency elections is the candidate who wins more votes than the other candidates – pluralistic system.
• It isn’t necessary for an overall majority to win a seat – about half of the MPs don’t win a overall majority in their constituency

Many seats are safe seats and only a minority of constituencies are marginal seats.

Usually produces an overall majority in the House of Commons which means the winner doesn’t need to rely on other parties, wasn’t the case in 2010 and June 2017.

Smaller parties have virtually no chance to get elected representatives.

It is therefore seen as a two party system.

As each party must nominate a single candidate in each constituency, the system tends to favour the selection of candidates who are ‘safe’ i.e. mostly middle-class, straight white men

Used in elections into the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Greater London Assembly.

It is a hybrid between the FPTP and proportional representation

• Two thirds of the seats are elected using FPTP
• The other third are elected on the basis of closed regional list voting, the country is divided into regions and each party offers a list of candidates for each regions – voters have two votes one for the constituency and one for the party lists, seats are awarded to each party in the list system in proportion to the votes cast, the mote votes the more seats awarded.
• There is an important variation in the regional list part of the vote. The variable top-up system adjusts the proportions of votes cast on the list system, this is a complex calculation, but in essence what happens is that the seats awarded from the list system are adjusted to give a more proportional result, this is known as the D’Hondt method.
• Parties who do worse in the constituencies (typically Conservatives and Greens) have their proportion of list votes adjusted upwards and those who do well in FPTP (typically Labour) have their list votes placed downwards.
• The overall effect of the top up is to make the total result to proportional of the total votes cast in both systems.

The overall outcome is approximately proportional to the votes cast.

There are many safe constituency seas, so there are few violent swings in the seats won for each of the parties.

Voters have two votes, a minority ‘split the ticket’ by voting for one party in the constituency vote but a different party in the list part of the system.

Small parties can win seats in the house despite not having much of a chance in winning constituency seats.

This is the system used in Northern Ireland and in Scottish local government elections.

Six candidates in each constituency

Each party is permitted to put as many candidates as there are seats but most put four up.

You place the candidates by preference

At the count an electoral quota is calculated, this is established by taking the total number of votes cast and dividing it by the number of seats available e.g. if there were 50,000 votes cast and six seats available it would be 50,000/7 = 7,143 then plus one for 7,144

At first all first preferences are counted for each candidate, any candidates who achieve the quota are elected automatically.

After this, the second and subsequent preferences from the ballot papers of the elected candidates are added to the other candidates, if this results in an individual achieving the quota the candidate is elected.

This process continues until six candidates have achieved the quota and are elected.

The overall outcome is largely proportional to the first preference votes for each party.

It results in a multi-party system

Very small parties and independent candidates have a chance in winning seats.

The fact that voter can discriminate between candidates and have multiple votes leads to candidates with greater social and demographic diversity being elected.

The system used to elect single candidates, used for mayors of English cities and regions.

The voter gets two votes between the candidates and if one candidate gets over 50% of the vote (overall majority) they’re automatically elected.

If not it goes to a choice between the top two in another direct vote to win a majority.

Winner can claim a majority

Candidates who win the first round may not win the election

Favour candidates from bigger parties

Personality and perceived qualities are nearly as important as their party allegiance

Arguments for retention

• It is easy to understand and produces a clear result in each constituency, the result is also known very quickly.
• It produces one single representative for each constituency and so creates a close constituency-MP bond.
• Accountability of the individual MP is clear to the electors.
• Until 2010 it had produced a strong government with a good majority bit this has changed in recent years
• It helps prevent smaller parties breaking in which is good to prevent extremist groups breaking through.
• Arguably the system has stood the test of time, abandoning it would be a dangerous step into the unknown.

Arguments against retention

• The result is not proportionate or fair, as some win more seats than their support warrants, and vice versa.
• Many votes were wasted as they have no impact on the outcome, parties now have many ‘heartlands’ and there is no realistic possibility of a challenge.
• Votes are of unequal value in seats that are safe seats, UKIP votes were of hugely less value than Conservative votes.
• It encourages tactical voting among some voters and so they abandon the party they really want to support.
• It prevents parties breaking into the system so it produces political inertia.
• Since 1945 the winning party has never won a majority, in 2015 the Conservatives were the biggest party despite only winning 36.9% of the vote, in 2005 Labour won with a majority of 66 with only 35.2% of the vote.

Advantages

• Broadly Proportional and fair to all parties
• Give two votes so there is more choice
• Comines preserving constituency representation and proportional outcomes.

Drawbacks

• Produces two classes of representatives -constituents and those elected from the lists and the latter tend to be senior.
• It is more complex than FPTP so could confuse some voters
• Can result in the election of some extremist candidates
• It is more likely to form coalition governments

Advantages

• Broadly proportional
• Gives voters a wide choice of candidates and their second choice is taken into account.
• Voters can voter for candidates from different parties and show a preference between candidates from the same party.
• Six representatives per constituency, this means each voter has a choice of those to represent them and usually can be represented by someone from the party they support.

Drawbacks

• Quite complex and some voters might not understand
• Vote counting is complex and could take a long time
• It can help candidates with extreme views become elected
• With six representatives, line of accountability isn’t clear
• Its more likely to produce coalitions.

Advantages

• Winning candidate can claim an overall majority
• It is relatively simple to understand
• Voters first and second choices are relevant

Disadvantages

• A winning candidate may not enjoy the first choice support of an overall majority
• The winning candidate may win on second choice.