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Lecture notes British Electoral System
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Lecture notes on the British electoral system
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THE ELECTORAL SYSTEMElectoral system = set of laws that regulate electoral competition between candidates or parties (or
both)
Democracy is not an abstract and perfect concept
It is an imperfect tool to measure the will of voters and give legitimacy and accountability to rulers.
Choice of electoral system leads to tradeoffs
Three possible criteria for evaluation:
1. Representativeness: extent to which diversity in electorate are represented in legislature
2. Governability: capacity of representatives to adopt policies
3. Accountability: ability of citizens to punish representatives
Elections are the foundation of democracy
Translate citizens’ preferences into representative governments – but no perfect way of doing so
Rules you choose affect the outcomes, type of representation
Electoral systems in place in UK politics:
1. FPTP (First Past The Post) – General election House of Commons / Council England and
Wales
Country divided into single-member constituencies
Voters choose one candidate only
The winner is the candidate with more votes than any other
A very simple and clear system
But many don’t get an MP from the party they voted for
Duverger’s Law – mechanical consequence: large parties get most of the seats leading to
disproportionality. Psychological Strategic behaviour of voters response to mechanical
effect, desire to avoid wasted votes, tactical voting, parties spend more money in one
constituency than another.
SMD plurality – 2 party system, constrains the growth of the party system
Advantages
- Straightforward
- Accountable
- No post-election bargaining
- Strong governments with large majority
- Discourages extremists
- Forces coordination across groups pre-election
- Forces ‘trans-ethnic’ appeals
- Produces long term stable parties
Disadvantages
- Disproportional, strong winners bonus
- Unrepresentative
- No say in choice of party candidates
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