Single Transferable Vote (STV)

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Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Advantages

  • capable of achieving highly proportional results - e.g. Alliance party in 2011 Northern Ireland elections gained 7.7% of the votes and 7.4% of the seats
  • competition between members of the same party allows candidates to be judged on their own merits rather than just as party delegates chosen by the party
  • availability of several members allows candidates to choose who to bring their grievances to - e.g. in South Antrim, Northern Ireland three DUP, one Sinn Fein, one Alliance and one UUP elected

Disadvantages

  • degree of proportionality achieved can vary, mainly based on the party system
  • does not produce a clear, strong and stable single-party government - e.g. in Northern Ireland 2011 elections, four parties with 13-35% of the seats each who share power
  • multi-member constituencies may be divisive as they encourage competition between members of the same party - e.g. in South Antrim, three DUP candidates won seats

Evaluation

overall, STV is beneficial to both democracy and the constituents themselves, but also means that more capable representatives are chosen and reduces the party delegation element of politics, but also produces coalitions, so more people are represented despite a possibly indecisive government

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