The additional member system

• What is the additional member system?


  proportional electoral system - combines the FPTP system and and the list system
• How does the system work:

  1. Each voter has two votes: 1 for a candidate another for the party
  2. each constituency votes for one candidate (FPTP) 2/3 seats are chosen this way
  3. the rest is elected on the basis of closed regional list- where voters can chose their party
  4. seats are awarded from the party list are adjusted to give a more proportional result (PR)
  5. parties that do less well in the constituencies have their proportion of list votes adjusted - those that do well with FPTP have their list of votes adjusted downwards
• what is the list system they use?


  parties list their candidates in order of importance depending on the % each party receives - they are allocated seats e.g. if they get win 50% of seats and there is 100 seats the party will get 50 seats
• what is a closed and open list?


  closed list: electors have no say in the order of the candidates on the list

  Open list: voters have some say over the list
• outcomes of this system:

  1. approximately proportional to the amount of votes
  2. denies large parties to have a majority of seats - why SNP has had a minority gov and Labor would have coalitions
  3. The party list of representatives have more leadership roles because they have fewer distraction
• 3 advantages of this :

  1. broadly proportional outcome and is fair to most parties
  2. gives voters 2 choices an more votes
  3. combines preserving constituency representation with a proportional outcome
• 3 Drawbacks

  1. 2 classes of representatives- those with a constituency and those elected through the lists - last one is more senior
  2. extremist candidates
  3. more likely to result in a minority gov- SNP