AMS

• Aspects of AMS:

  • It is a proportional electoral system, percentage of seats should be similar to the percentage of votes won
  • No wasted votes, all votes are used and the voter feels more valued
  • Coalition governments are normal
• Roughly how it works:

  • It is a hybrid system uses both FPTP + a closed list system
  • First vote chooses a member for their local constituency
  • The second vote (closed list) is used to select a political party - it acts as a 'top up' to the constituency vote - makes the overall vote more proportional
  • 2016 Scottish Parliament election result: SNP 45% of the vote = 63% of seats. (Turnout 56%)
• Advantages:

  • Proportional
  • Each voter has a single constituency representative
  • Gives voters a wider choice (First + second choices means that they can choose a candidate from a certain candidate for their first choice and a different party for their second choice)
  • A coalition gov is more likely (possibly a disadvantage too?)
• Disadvantages:

  • Closed list - chosen by party.
  • Having two types of representative may create animosity between them, those elected via party lists may have been seen as having 'got in via the backdoor'
  • Smaller parties are less well represented then under a fully proportional system.