Elections

Why do we have elections?

• Political recruitment 
• Accountability- citizens can hold gvt to account
• Legitimacy- gvt have mandate
• Essential component of democracy

"The cogs which keep the wheels of democracy turning" - D.Farrell

Majoritarian- one elected candidate per constituency, not proportional, produces clear winner, e.g SV, FPTP.

Proportional- multi-member constituencies, seats in an elected assembly are proportional to a share of votes. E.g Closed List System and STV

Why does the choice of the system matter?

• Shapes political body e.g type of parliament
• Effects party systems e.g 2 party system
• Leads to coalitions 
• Reflects voters' wishes 
• Indicates swings in public opinion
• Produces strong government

FIRST PAST THE POST (majoritarian)

How it works?

• Country is divided into 650 constituencies
• Number of constituencies and size changes to make equal
• Each constituency elects one MP
• Voters choose from a list of candidates, nearly all of whom have been nominated by a political party. 
• Candidate who receives the most votes is elected.

Arguments for retaining FPTP

• It has existed for a long time and widely accepted. 
• It is easy to understand
• Retains strong geographical link (people know their MP)
• Tends to produce strong, single party, decisive stable gvt with a clear HofC majority. (Though 2010 weakens this argument)

Arguments against FPTP

• Disproportional, awards seats to parties unfairly. E.g UKIP 12% votes yet received 1 seat
• Produces large number of wasted votes - those in safe seats or for'no hope' parties
• Votes are effectively not of equal value, those in close marginal seats are worth more than those in 'safe seats'. 
• Discriminates significantly against smaller parties
• The 2010 election result gives no clear winner- hung parliament.
• When it does produce a gvt with clear majority, it can be argued too much power is given to the party.
• Most MPs elected on less that 50% of the vote. Leads to doubts about democratic legitimacy
• Turnouts are low, 66% 2015, suggests system is losing support
• Out of step with the rest of Europe, nowhere else in Europe uses FPTP.

SUPPLEMENTARY VOTE/ALTERNATIVE VOTE (majoritarian)

How it works?

• Voters rank their candidates preferentially ie. 1,2,3,4,5
• AV= voters can rank as many as they like
• SV= only have 2 preference votes
• Candidates must achieve 50% of votes to win
• 1st preference votes counted first, in AV…