AQA Government and Politics Chapter 7: Elections and Referendums (Essay Plans)
Updated 2023/2024
This Resource includes 4 9-Mark Question Plans for the 'Elections and Referendums' topic - also including a list of key definitions alongside a specification checklist (+ topics that have already ...
Majoritarian Electoral System = Electoral System where the candidate with the highest
number of votes in each constituency is elected (e.g., FPTP)
‘Winner takes all’ system – only the winner gets rewarded
Proportional Electoral System =Electoral System that calculates number of elected
representatives by the actual number of votes they receive (e.g., List PR)
Representative Democracy = System of Democracy where people vote for elected
representatives
Suffrage = The Right to Vote
Participation = Various ways in which people can get involved with the political process
Voting Behaviour = Analysis of why people vote the way they do 0 voters are placed into
categories to allow comparison
Manifesto = Set of policies a political party promises to implement once elected to office
Campaign = Working in an organised way towards a political goal
Referendums = A direct vote on a policy measure
, “Explain and Analyse three features of the FPTP voting
system”
1. Produces a Strong and Accountable Government
- 1979-2010 = Conservatives and then Labour were able to dominate
government for lengthy periods of time
TISB, despite how the results in 2010 and 2017 were less conclusive
(hung parliament, no party had an overall majority), the decisive Tory
victory in 2019 broke this pattern and saw a return to a strong single-
party government
2. Produces Wasted Votes
- 2019 = Brexit party won almost 650,000 votes but no MPs
- 2015 = UKIP won 3.9 million votes but only gained one seat
TISB this discourages participation as it disincentivises supporters of
smaller parties to turn out and vote due to their vote becoming wasted,
thereby encouraging ‘tactical voting’ instead which defeats the
democratic process
3. Distorts the Popular Vote Share
- 1997 = Labour only won 43% of the popular vote yet won 63% of the
seats – Winners Bonus
- 2019 = Conservatives won 77 more seats than their vote proportion
TISB this distorts the actual vote share and in turn brings to light the
questionability of how democratic it truly is – 2019: 229 out of 650 MPs
were elected with less than 50% of the vote
An alternative system like AV (which is arguably even less
proportional than FPTP) would at least ensure that every winning
candidate has at least the tacit support of the majority of voters
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