The role of elections in a democracy

Do elections guarantee democracy? Unit 1

This week in British politics

• WOOLAS OUSTED OVER ELECTION SLURS• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11699888• COULSON QUESTIONED OVER HACKING

CLAIMS• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11703766• Labour MP Paul Farrelly admits incident in

Parliament • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11703621

Elections

• Elections in established democracies are generally free and fair. Today, more countries hold elections that meet the criteria.

• Even in countries with dubious democratic credentials, elections are still recognised by the ruling authorities as being useful.

• Eg. Burma• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11

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Types of elections in Britain

• General elections

• Local elections

• European elections

• Elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• Occasional by-elections.

Key terms.Define;

• Representation –

• Proportional Representation –.

• Mandate –

• Electoral mandate –

Key Concepts

• Representation – standing for, or acting on behalf of, a body of people.

• Proportional Representation – A principle or system in which parties are represented in an assembly proportional to their electoral strength.

• Mandate – an authoritative instruction or command from a higher body that demands compliance.

• Electoral mandate – an election victory is interpreted, by the successful party, as giving it a mandate from the people to govern the nation.

• ‘Strong in the belief that Tuesday’s vote delivered him a mandate to govern President Bush will begin his second term’

Electoral systems used in UK

• FPTP – Westminster

• Closed Regional Party List – MEPs

• Additional Member System – Scottish Parl., Welsh Assembly, GLA

• Single Transferable Vote – N.I

• Supplementary Vote – Mayor of London

• Majoritarian

• Proportional

Simple Plurality System

• First Past the Post System;• Used in Westminster Elections• Single member constituencies; Representation• 650 seats at last election• Just one more vote than next person needed to

win – majority not required (plurality)• Party with most number of seats in parliament

forms govt.- carries through mandate• Accountable (MPs want single member

constituency)

Israel

• 120 members in Knesset

• 1 national constituency - voters vote for party lists

• Votes proportional to seats won

• Threshold of 2% votes to win a seat

• As pure a form of P.R there is.

FPTP - Advantages

• Simple to understand• Voter can express view

on which party should form next govt.

• Leads to 2 party system – single party govts. Strong enough to create legislation

• Close link between the MP and constituency.

• System represents views of the people, as candidate with greatest support wins through fair process.

• Hold candidates to account – Tatton 1997 – Neil Hamilton voted out for sleaze.

• It works, why change?!

FPTP - Disadvantages

• Only 1 MP elected in each constituency, so all voters who didn’t vote for MP are not represented. See Table 1

• Wasted votes – 1997; 14.7 million voters cast ineffective votes (48% electorate) See Table 2

• Lack of choice – do not choose candidates.

• Votes non – transferable.

• Voters are represented unequally; 1997 – ave. number of votes per MP elected: 32,376 for Labour, 113,826 for Lib Dems.

• Concentrated support wins seats. Conservatives won 18% votes in Scotland yet won no seats.

• 2005 Labour won 35% votes yet won 62% seats.

Proportional Representation

• Aim of P.R;

• i) Ensure party representation mirrors as closely as possible level of support for various parties as a whole

• ii) To provide voters with some degree of choice.

Closed Party List – European elections

• Multi member constituencies. Ballot paper holds list of political parties rather than list of candidates. Seats allocated according to no. of votes won.

• UK elects 78 MEPS to European Parliament every 5 years.

• Uses the D’Hondt Formula: Number of Votes cast Number of Seats won plus 1

• Closed means that voters cannot determine which candidates are elected, just vote for party. (party will have order)

• Regional lists divides country into regions – 12.

European elections 2004

• 7 MEPs elected for Eastern region; 3 Conservatives, 2 UKIP, 1 Labour, 1 Lib Dem.

• Overall: • Cons-27• Lab – 19• UKIP- 12• Lib Dems – 12• Green – 2• SNP – 2• Plaid Cymru - 1

Closed Party Lists

• Advantages;• Higher degree of

proportionality• Simple for voters to

use, just vote for a party

• Disadvantages:• Voters have little say

on the candidates• Accountability lost

with multi member candidates

• Parties become all powerful as select candidates

Single Transferable Vote

• Used in Republic Ireland, NI Assembly • Multi member constituencies• Option favoured by electoral reform society.

http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk• Preferential voting – ie. Order the candidates in

order or preference.• As many votes as there are candidates• Uses a quota to distribute votes =

Votes cast in constituencySeats in constituency +1

+1

Single Transferable Vote

• Why quota?• To find the smallest number of votes to ensure

that only the target number of candidates can achieve election.

• Candidates who gain more votes than are needed to achieve the quota have the excess removed and redistributed.

• If target number of candidates still not achieved then last placed candidate eliminated.

See Banbridge West Ward 1997 Election.

STV

Advantages• Only complicated for the

returning officer. Simply rank candidates

• Wide range of choices• Every vote counts – fewer

wasted votes• Fairer to smaller parties• Likely to produce

coalitions• Good at securing election

of women and minority groups

Disadvantages• Election results may take

some time to announce. (weeks)

• Calculation is very complicated.

• Downside to coalition governments

• No link between MP and constituency

Northern Ireland 2007• Multi party system• 1998 Good Friday Agreement – power sharing agreement involving

2 nationalist and 2 unionist parties.

Party Total Votes %votes Seats Change from 03

DUP 207,721 30.1 36 +6

Sinn Fein 180,573 26.2 28 +4

Ulster Unionist

103,145 14.9 18 -9

SDLP 105,164 15.2 16 -2

Alliance 36,139 5.2 7 +1

Green 11,985 1.7 1 +1

others 45,586 6.6 1 -

Additional Member System – Hybrid System

• Used in elections for Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, London Assembly

• Two types of MP – those elected under FPTP (MP1) and an additional top up member chosen from lists of party nominees (MP2)

• MP1 are constituency representatives

• MP2 are party representatives to reflect proportional votes cast for that party - regional

• Voters have two ballots – one for constituency vote and one for regional vote.

• D’Hondt formula used:

Votes cast for party in regional listAll seats won by that party in

region +1

All Wales Convention - Time for the next step?

• The current powers available to the National Assembly are enough?

• It’s the right time for Wales to take the next step towards full law making powers?

AMS – Features

• Advantages:• Greater proportionality • Gives opportunity for

voters to split their vote• Smaller parties given

greater opportunity for representation

• Combines best features of FPTP and List system

• Disadvantages:• Total proportionality not

achieved• Question over

accountability

http://new.wales.gov.uk/awcsub/awchome/?lang=en

Results if party list or STV used in 2005 election

Seats won: List (FPTP)

Seats won: STV

Labour 227 (356) 263

Conservative 209 (197) 200

Lib Dems 142 (62) 147

SNP / Plaid 14 13

Others 54 (30) 23

Question - Would the results have been fairer if either system had been in use in 2005?