Electoral Systems

• AMS 


  Mixed system
• Impact of AMS


  Coalition or minority govt more common

  Parties have to work together to pass legislation
• Advantages of AMS 


  Proportional result- more seats party gains in constituents, harder to gain seats regionally, reduces wasted votes, more paties represented

  Split-ticket voting- More choice, and with second vote can vote for diff party, encourages more parties to run

  Govt with broad popularity- must be popular across whole country, if coalitions lots of parties have input on policy, greater legitimacy

  Greater representation- all areas represented by constituence and regional representatives more chance that voter share ideology with rep, increases turnout
• Disadvantages of AMS 


  Complicated- what happens after voting not simple, put voters off as feel vote be manipulated, decrease turnout

  Coalition more likely- govt weaker, difficult to pass policies in manifesto

  First round- constituency vote of AMS uses FPTP so has same disadvantages as FPTP

  Party control- in regional vote party control of list of candidates, voters only choice to support list or not, excessive influence to party leadership
• SV


  Majoritarian system
• SV Advantages


  Majority result - increases legitimacy, keep extremes out of power, strong and stable govt

  More voter choice

  Simple- easy to understand
• SV Disadvantages


  2 party dominance- 3rd party unlikely to do well, result not proportional, encourages tactical use of 2nd vote, discourages turnout

  False majority- 2nd round voters whose candidates eliminated their vote doesn't count

  Wasted vote- wasted vote have little or no impact on outcome of election
• SV


  Produce single party strong stable govt

  Lead to 2 party dominance
• SV


  Mayoral election

  Police, Crime comissioner
• SV


  2016 mayoral election turnout 45%

  If voters choose to express no 2nd preference or if 2nd preference is for eliminated candidate, influence reduced

  2021 turnout dropped to 41.2%
• STV


  Northern Ireland Assembly

  European Parliament elections

  NI, Scottish council elections
• STV Advantages


  Broadly proportional outcome, ensures votes are of equal value

  Variety of choices

  Govt consist of party/s that win over 50% of vote, in NI power sharing between rivals, helped end 30 yr violence

  Helps small parties and independent candidate be elected
• STV Disadvantages


  Not fully proportional

  Complex- vote counting complicated and take long time

  Large multi-member constituencies weaken MP constituency link - line of accountability unclear

  Coalition govt - unstable, disproportionate influence to smaller parties, e.g. NI executive suspended several times in early yrs, inc 2002-2007 as result of breakdown in trust, cooperation broke down again in 2017 - triggering further elections
• STV


  Proportional representation
• STV


  Coalition likely

  Parties have to work together

  With multi-member constituencies in electoral process, likelihood of safe seat significantly reduced and value of each vote more equal
• FPTP


  Plurality system
• FPTP Advantages


  Simple- encourage people to turnout, legitimacy of electoral system, cost-effective election, quick legitimate result
• FPTP Advantages


  Strong, clear winner- winner bonus, party can carry out manifesto
• Winners bonus


  Get extra prize (extra n.o of seats)

  E.g. if won 40 seats, winner bonus make it like they got 60 votes

  It's to make it clear who won
• FPTP Advantage


  MP-constituent link- clear accountability, effective local rep, more likely to help locals so get re-elected
• FPTP Advantage


  Centrist policies- ensure majority of UK population represented as leaders introduce policies that are popular with people so get elected, exclude extremist parties
• Disadvantages FPTP


  Lack of voter choice- reduced turnout, tactical voting

  Unequal vote value- vote of one person more valuable depending on where they live, undermines principles of democracy

  No majority needed- more people can vote against winning candidate than for them, undermine legitimacy, waste vote for those who voted for losing candidate

  Disproportionate result- 2 main parties over-represented cuz of winner bonus while other parties under-represented
• FPTP


  Majority govt

  Promote 2 party system - adversarial politics

  Smaller parties less influence
• FPTP- no majority needed


  2019 229/650 seats won with less than 50% majority
• FPTP - winners bonus

  Cons took 43.6% vote but had 56.2% seat
• FPTP- lack of voter choice

  70 parties ran in 2019 but only 10 gained seats