Advantages and disadvantages

• Advantages of the voting system

  • Voters have a simple choice- it's 'as easy as 1, 2, 3'
  • It produces a broadly proportional outcome
  • It gives voters a wide choice of candidates. Their second and subsequent choices are taken into consideration in the counting
  • As there are six representatives per constituency, each voter has a choice of those to represent them and usually they find themselves represented by someone from the party they supported
• Drawbacks of the voting system

  • Calculating the result is very complex and takes a long time
  • It is more likely to result in minority or coalition government that could be unstable
  • It can help candidates with extremist views to be elected
  • With six representatives per constituency, the lines of accountability are not clear
• cons-

  2. Complexity

  • More complex voting and counting process.
  • Final results take longer.
  • Northern Ireland Assembly Election 2022 (uses STV):Took over 2 days to finish counting and declare all results.
  • Scottish local elections 2022 (also STV):Some areas took more than a day to announce full results.