Electoral Systems

The role of elections in democracyThe nature of representation

Learning Objectives

• Understand the purpose of elections • Explain how the UK system of First Past the

Post (FPTP) operates• Analyse both the strengths and weaknesses of

this system, referring supporting evidence to evaluate this.

Who can vote in UK parliamentary elections?• British or Commonwealth citizens who are resident in the UK• Citizens of the Irish Republic who are resident in the UK• In Northern Ireland, electors must have been resident in Northern Ireland during thewhole of the three-month period prior to the relevant date.• British nationals living overseas are entitled to vote for up to 15 years after movingabroad. An overseas voter should register in the constituency covering the address forwhere they were last registered within the UK. (someone who has never beenregistered as an elector in the UK is not be eligible to register as an overseas voterunless they left the UK before they were 18, providing that they left the country nomore than 15 years ago)• Service/Crown personnel serving in the UK or overseas in the armed forces or withHer Majesty's Government• Homeless people can register using a declaration of local connection• Residents of mental hospitals (but see B below) and remand prisoners

Who cannot vote?•Anyone under 18 years old on polling day• Members of the House of Lords, including life peers, Church of England archbishopsand bishops and hereditary peers who have retained their seat in the House of Lords.These people can, however, vote at elections to local authorities, devolved legislaturesand the European Parliament• European Union citizens (who can however vote at local government, devolvedlegislature and European parliamentary elections)• Citizens of any country apart from the Irish Republic and Commonwealth countries;• Convicted persons detained in pursuance of their sentences (though remand prisoners,unconvicted prisoners and civil prisoners in default of fine or breach of recognisancescan vote if they are on the electoral register) This includes offenders detained inmental hospitals;• Anyone found guilty within the previous five years of corrupt or illegal practices inconnection with an election• Under common law, people with mental disabilities if, on polling day, they areincapable of making a reasoned judgement

Who can stand for election?

• Read the orange box on page 80.

• Who can stand for election?

• Are there any differences between local and national elections?

What are constituencies?• This chart shows the

650 constituency results from the 2010 election.

• The number and size of constituencies can vary according to changes in population and the movement of people.

• Read the paragraph on page 81 and make notes on what constituencies are and why and how they change including specific examples.

What is the purpose of general elections?

• In pairs brainstorm as many reasons as you can think of for elections?

• Using the information on pages 81-81 produce a spider diagram on the various purposes of general elections.

First-Past-the-PostDefinition

‘An electoral system that involves two or more candidates standing for election, the electors being given one vote each, and the candidate who wins most votes being declared the winner. Sometimes called the single-member plurality system (SMPS) and sometimes confusingly called a majoritarian system’.

• Using pages 84 – 90 you need notes on the strengths and weaknesses of the FPTP system. It is up to you how you produce these notes but make the different issues clear and include specific examples where appropriate. i.e. In 2001 in Argyll and Bute 70 % of voters against the winning candidate prompting critics of FPTP to use this as a clear example of FPTP to representing the views of the majority.

What do you think the

illustrator is saying about

Britain’s electoral system?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11192939

What other electoral systems are there?

Majoritarian Proportional Representation

Hybrid Systems

Supplementary vote Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Additional Member System (AMS)

Alternative Vote (AV) List Systems

First Past The Post (FPTP)

Majoritarian Systems

Winning candidate is elected with absolute majority (more than 50%)

Sort of halfway between PR and FPTP.Aim is to give voter chance to express first

preference, then 2nd preference etc.Can have several rounds until one candidate has a

clear majority.Supplementary system used to elect mayors – first

two candidates go through all rest knocked out after first round.

Majoritarian Systems

The Supplementary Vote system is used for all mayoral elections in England and Wales. Under this system voters express a first choice and (optionally) a second choice. If no candidate receives 50% of first choice votes, the top two candidates go to a second round. Voters whose first choice has been eliminated but whose second choice is one of the top two candidates have their second preference vote added to the first-round totals for the leading candidates. This gives a result whereby the winning candidate may be able to claim majority support, although it is not guaranteed.

Majoritarian SystemsLondon Mayoral Election Results 20083

Name Party1st Preference Votes

%2nd Preference Votes

% Final1 %

Boris Johnson Conservative 1,043,761 42.48 (+14.3%)

257,792 10.49 1,168,

73853.17 (+8.57)

Ken Livingstone Labour 893,877 36.38 (+0.7%)

303,198 12.34 1,028,

96646.73 (-8.57)

Brian Paddick Liberal Democrat 236,685 9.63 (–5.2%) 641,412 26.11

Siân Berry Green 77,374 3.15 (+0.3%) 331,727 13.50

Richard Barnbrook British National Party 69,710 2.84 (+0.2%) 128,609 5.23

Alan Craig Christian Peoples Alliance 39,249 1.6 (–0.6%) 80,140 3.26

Gerard Batten UKIP 22,422 0.91 (–5.1%) 113,651 4.63

Lindsey German Left List 16,796 0.68 35,057 1.43

Matt O'Connor2 English Democrats (withdrawn) 10,695 0.44 73,538 2.99

Winston McKenzie Independent 5,389 0.22 38,954 1.59

Majoritarian Systems

1.What are majoritarian systems?

2.How do they work (different models)?

3.What advantages and disadvantages can you see with this system?

Proportional Representation (PR)

• A system where by the number of votes cast for each party is matched near enough exactly to the proportion of seats in the assembly allocated to each party.

• STV most famous version – Lib Dem campaign as have the UK Electoral Reform Society.

• Encourages people to vote for who they want unlike FPTP where people can sometimes feel voting for a smaller party is a wasted vote.

• See table p.93

Hybrid Systems

• Combinations of either PR and FPTP or PR and majoritarian systems.

• AMS used for Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as in Germany

2007 Scottish Parliament Electionse • d Scottish Parliament election, 2007

PartiesAdditional member system Total seatsConstituency Region

Votes % +/− Seats +/− Votes % +/− Seats +/− Total +/− %

SNP 664,227 32.9 +9.1 21 +12 633,401 31.0 +10.2 26 +8 47 +20 37.0

Labour 648,374 32.2 −2.5 37 −9 595,415 29.2 −0.1 9 +5 46 −4 36.2

Conservative 334,743 16.6 0 4 +1 284,005 13.9 −1.6 13 −2 17 −1 13.4

Liberal Democrats

326,232 16.2 +0.9 11 −2 230,671 11.3 −0.5 5 +1 16 −1 12.6

Scottish Green 2,971 0.2 +0.2 0 – 82,584 4.0 -2.8 2 −5 2 −5 1.6

Independent 25,047 1.2 −1.2 0 −2 21,320 1.0 −0.7 1 0 1 −2 0.8

Scottish Senior Citizens

1,702 0.1 +0 0 – 38,743 1.9 +0.4 0 −1 0 −1 0

Solidarity – – – – – 31,066 1.5 +1.5 0 0 0 0 0

Scottish Christian 4,586 0.2 +0.2 0 0 26,575 1.3 +1.3 0 0 0 0 0

Election results

Should we change our electoral system?

• http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2010/02/