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Summary A-level Edexcel Politics Paper 1 essay plans - TOPIC 3 Electoral Systems
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A-level Edexcel Politics Paper 1 essay plans - TOPIC 3 Electoral Systems
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Topic 3: Electoral systemsDebates about: the merits and limitations of UK electoral systems, including FPTP, alternative electoral systems; the
impact of those systems on: formation of government, party representation and voter choice. Also, the case for and
against referendums in a representative democracy, and their impact on UK political life since 1997.
FPTP: First past the post: Plurality voting system
- In the UK, this works on a constituency basis.
- There are 435 constituencies, and each one works on the basis of a simple plurality system, electing one MP.
- It works on a One Man One Vote (OMOV) principle, and each party can put forward only one candidate per
constituency.
- The voter marks a cross by their preferred candidate.
- Whichever candidate wins the most votes, wins the seat.
- The winners go on to represent their constituency in parliament, and from them the government is drawn –
the party who won the most seats.
STV: Single transferable vote: Proportional voting system
- It is used in local and assembly elections in Northern Ireland, and for local elections in Scotland.
- It operates using multi-member constituencies (usually around 6 members per constituency).
- Political parties are able to put up as many candidates as there are seats to fill in each constituency.
- Voters rank candidates in order of preference.
- Candidates are elected if they achieve a quote of votes, based on the Droop formula.
- This is the total number of votes cast, divided by [the total number of seats to be filled +1], +1.
- First choices are taken first.
- If any candidate achieves the quote, additional votes for him or her are counted according to second
preferences votes.
- If there remain seats, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their second-choice votes
redistributed.
- This continues until all seats are filled.
SV: Supplementary vote: Majority voting system
- This is the voting system used in the London Mayoral Elections. It is a Majority Voting System, whereby the
winning candidate must receive over 50% of the votes to win.
- In this voting system, candidates vote in two columns; the first column is their first choice candidate, the
second is their second choice.
- If no candidate wins over 50% from the first-choice votes, all candidates except for the top two are
eliminated.
- Second choice votes from those eliminated are then redistributed between the remaining two candidates.
The candidate with the highest total (Which will be over 50% because there are only 2 remaining) will be
elected.
AV: Alternative vote: Majority voting system
- The Alternative Vote is not used nationally in the UK (only in Scottish local government by-elections),
although it was proposed by the Liberal Democrats in a referendum to replace FPTP in Westminster in 2011.
- It is currently used for the elections in Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
- In this system, voters rank candidates from 1 downwards, as far as they would like.
- If one candidate gets over 50% of the vote, (s)he is automatically elected.
- If not, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated.
- His/her second-choice votes are then redistributed.
- This continues until one candidate achieves over 50%.
, 1) The merits and limitations of UK electoral systems
Plurality voting systems - FPTP
Merits: It generally results in a single-party government with a clear mandate
- Supporters argue that single-party, majority governments are preferable because they are stronger, with a
clear mandate to enact their policies, and much more stable, unlikely to collapse ahead of the next election.
- Counter: FPTP can still deliver weak majorities, giving governments weak mandates.
- As FPTP is a simple plurality system, the winner in each constituency needs just one more vote than
the second-place candidate.
- This means that many MPs have a weak individual mandate, as they are elected without the support
of a majority of their constituents.
- In the 2015 General Election, only 328 MPs (51%) had a ‘majority mandate’, while 322 MPs (49%)
had a ‘minority mandate’.
Limitations: FPTP is particularly unfair to third parties because it makes the distribution of support so important
- For example, in the 2019 General Election, the Lib Dems won 3.7 million votes, but only won 11 seats. In
contrast the SNP received 1.2 million votes, which translated into 48 seats.
- This disparity between the popular vote and seat share was also evident in the 2015 General Election where
UKIP received over 3.8 million votes but won only a single seat. In contrast, the SNP received 1.45 million
votes, and won 56 seats.
- In both cases this was because Lib Dem and UKIP support was divided across the whole of the UK whereas,
the SNP’s support was concentrated in Scotland.
- For example, in 2015, UKIP’s support was divided across the 624 constituencies it fielded candidates, while
the SNP’s support was concentrated in Scotland’s 59 constituencies
- Counter: It is arguably a benefit that minor extremist parties find it difficult to succeed.
- Arguably, the unfair results of FPTP can help prevent extremists from winning.
- However, this is also likely under more proportional systems. For example, the quota that a successful
candidate needs under STV, would likely be too high for extremist candidates to reach.
Proportional voting systems – STV
Merits: Proportional systems such as STV tend to lead to fewer wasted votes.
- Fewer votes are 'wasted' (i.e. cast for losing candidates or unnecessarily cast for the winner) under STV.
- This means that most voters can identify a representative that they personally helped to elect. Such a link in
turn increases a representative's accountability.
Merits: The winner’s bonus, and bias towards large parties is reduced.
- Therefore, minor parties are more likely to win representation, so leading to multi-party systems, which is
arguably more representative than the current two party system we have in the UK.
- For example, the Green Party has had representation in the Scottish Parliament, Greater London Assembly
and European Parliament, but until 2010 it had no MPs in the House of Commons (and since 2010, has had
only one).
- In 2014, UKIP won 24 seats in the European Parliament elections – similarly in 2019, under Farage, the Brexit
party managed to win 29 seats – in both cases this was the most of any party.
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