Flashcards
STV/AMS/FPTP
Cards in this deck (9)
- 1Main features of STVUsed in: Scottish local elections since 2007
European Parliament elections
Northern Ireland
Proportional system - 2Main features of FPTPUsed in:
General Elections to the House of Commons
650 single member constituencies = 650 seats in House of Commons
Simple plurality system - 3Argument for STVParliament more likely to be reflective of nations views and more responsive to them
Fewer votes are wasted - most voters can identify a representative they elect, which increases representatives accountability
Helps advancement with women and ethnic minorities
No "safe-seats" meaning parties wont become complacent with parties must campaign everywhere not just in marginal constituencies unlike FPTP in which "safe seats" constituencies create many wasted votes (usually for smaller parties) and voter apathy - 4Disadvantage of FPTPNumber of votes cast for a party in gneral elections in not accurately reflected in the number of seats won - e.g. 1997 general election when the conservatives gained 18% of the vote in Scotland but not one seat.
A government may be elected on a minority vote - e.g. 1974 general election labour won on the number of seats gained but the conservatives had a larger share of the vote across the country.
Smaller parties are over looked as although they may have considerable support nation wide, they don't have concentrated support in constituencies meaning the House of commons unproportional.
In 2010, few women MPs only 143 (21.5%) but 2% rise from 2005 - 5Argument for FPTPThere is very little chance of extremest parties being elected to Parliament under FPTP because they are unlikely to gain enough votes in any one constituency.
Generally the results of election using FPTP can be calculated quickly. When necessary, this makes the transfer of power from one party to another much easier.
Retains direct representative-constituent link - 6Disadvantages of STVIn sparsely populated areas, like the Scottish Highlands, STV could lead to enormous constituencies. This was one of the reasons cited by the Arbuthnott Commission for not recommending STV for non-local Scottish elections.
A voting system that allows voters to rank candidates can be prine to what has been termed 'donkey voting', where voters vote for candidates in order they appear on the ballot.
In large multi-member constituencies ballot papers can get rather large and potentially confusing - 7Main features of AMSUsed in:
Scottish parliament election since 1999
Welsh Assembly elections since 1999
London assembly elections since 2000 - 8Arguments for AMSMixed system = balanced desirability of constituency representation with a fairness in election outcome
Greater degree of proportionate parliament - e.g. 2003 Scottish parliament results
Voters are less likely to be wasted unlike FPTP in which "safe-seat" constituencies create many wasted votes (usually for smaller parties) and voter apathy - 9Disadvantages of AMSSome commentators feel that AMS keads to scottish voters being 'over-represented' with 8 MSPs for each voter. Questions over the efficiency of this 'representation'
Voters don't vote for a coalition, consensus politics results in decisions often being made without public backing - e.g. labour/lib dem 1999-2011/ minority government SNP 2007-2011
Information
- Description
- Flashcards on STV/AMS/FPTP, created by jenzo1997 on 02/06/2014.
- Created by
- jenzo1997 · Jun 2014
- Updated
- Feb 19, 2016
- Views
- 20
- Rating