Electoral systems used in the UK

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Electoral systems used in the UK

• Plurality (First past the Post FPTP) in single
  member constituencies
• Used in elections to the UK House of Commons
  local elections in England and Wales
• Proportional representation (PR), based on party
  lists in multi-member constituencies
• Used in elections to the European Parliament in
  England, Scotland and Wales
• Additional Member System (AMS combination of
  FPTP and PR lists)
• Used in elections to the Scottish parliament, to
  the Welsh Assembly and to the London Assembly
• Single Transferable Vote (STV)
• Used in Scottish local elections and elections in
  Northern Ireland to the NI assembly, European
  Parliament and local councils

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And also

• Supplementary vote
• Used in mayoral elections in England and Wales
• So quite a few systems in operation, then!
• In this talk, focus will be on FPTP, AMS and STV

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First Past the Post (FPTP)
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First Past the Post in single member
constituencies advantages

• Clear-cut and easy to understand
• Easy for the voter (just one cross on ballot
  paper)
• Easy to count (no formulas)
• Usually produces clear majorities no need for
  coalitions or minority governments
• Provides a personal link between constituents and
  their elected representative

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First Past the Post in single member
constituencies disadvantages

• Does not provide fair results some parties
  overrepresented others underrepresented
  (possible to get majority of seats with minority
  of votes, e.g. 1951)
• Does not give voters a choice of person within
  their chosen party
• Winner takes all possible to win seat with
  much less than 50 of the vote
• Tends to preserve the monopoly of the established
  parties difficult for new parties to break
  through unless they have geographically
  concentrated support
• Encourages adversarial rather than consensual
  politics?
• Party activity concentrated to marginal
  constituencies. Voters in safe seats neglected

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The General Election, 1983
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The General Election, 2005
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Inverness, Nairn, Lochaber, 1992 General
Election
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Additional Member Systems (AMS) or Mixed Member

• Exists, with variations, in several countries,
  e.g. Germany, New Zealand
• Consists of two elements
• 1. First Past the Post in single-member
  constituencies
• 2. Proportional Representation via regional party
  lists

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AMS has a number of variations

• In some cases the two elements are not linked
• The proportion of AM to FPTP seats vary
• The AMs may be distributed at a National or
  Sub-National level
• The elector may have one or two votes
• In Germany, parties need five per cent of the
  national vote (in the regional list vote) to
  qualify for parliamentary seats.
• No such threshold in Scotland
• Germany has a national corrective, to ensure that
  the distribution of seats is proportional
• No such corrective in Scotland

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Features of the Scheme

• 73 FPTP Seats (Westminster Seats pre-2005, but
  Orkney and Shetland divided)
• 8 Regional Constituencies each returning 7
  Additional Members

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Voting

• Each elector has two votes
• One for a FPTP seat, the first vote
• and one for a Regional party list, the second
  vote
• Vote-splitting is possible you can vote for one
  party with your first vote, and something
  completely different with your second vote
• The regional party lists are closed voters
  cannot indicate any preference for candidates
• Thus, any direct personal link between voters and
  MSPs goes via the first, single member
  constituency, vote

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The Ballot

• Prior to 2007 two pieces of paper
• 1st for Constituency Vote
• 2nd for the Regional List
• 2007 One piece of paper
• 1st vote for the Regional List
• 2nd vote for the Constituency

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(No Transcript)
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Allocation of Regional Additional Members (i.e.
2nd vote seats)

• The regional list votes (i.e. 2nd votes) across
  all the FPTP constituencies in a region are added
  up
• Each partys 2nd votes are then divided by the
  number of FPTP seats already won 1 (DHondt
  Quota)

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Allocation of AMs continued

• After the division the first AM (i.e. the first
  list seat) is allocated to the party whose
  divided vote is highest
• The 2nd AM is allocated by dividing the 2nd Votes
  by seats already won, including the 1st
  Additional Member.
• The process continues until all seven AMs have
  been allocated

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2007 Summary
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2007 Seats by Type
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2007 Fair Shares?
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Working of the System

• Conservative MSPs were mostly returned from the
  regional lists
• The Labour MSPs were overwhelmingly returned by
  First Past the Post
• Labour and the SNP were over-represented.

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Working of the system continued

• Level of female representation went down in 2007

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Working of the system continued

• The Liberal Democrats held the balance of power
  in the parliament
• More parties contested the regional lists than
  FPTP constituencies
• All four main parties won fewer regional list
  than FPTP votes, esp. LibDems

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Working of the system continued

• Ticket-Splitting
• Minor parties gained representation through the
  regional lists (7 Greens, 6 SSP, 1 Senior
  Citizens, Margo MacDonald) in 2003
• In 2003 two independents elected via FPTP (Dennis
  Canavan Falkirk W Jean Turner Stop Stobhill
  Hospital Clousure)
• In 2007 only three, all via regional list votes
  (2 Greens Margo MacDonald).

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Single Transferable Vote (STV)

• Voters fill in a ballot paper by marking their
  ballot paper 1,2,3, and so on, against their
  preferred individual candidates
• across any party or combination of parties.
  Winning candidates must obtain a quota of
  support to qualify for one of the seats in a
  constituency

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In the STV system, therefore

• the voter can mix the vote between candidates
  from different parties
• or concentrate the preferences to one party
• The rules vary in different countries, but in
  Scotland the voter can indicate as many
  preferences as s/he wants just one or rank all
  of the candidates on the ballot paper

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STV is proportional

• but only in terms of candidates, not in terms of
  parties!
• The proportionality is on the constituency level,
  not at the national level
• The proportionality is also affected by how many
  seats there are in the constituency the more
  seats, the more proportional

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STV allows

• ..a significant extent of personal voting
• The direct personal link between voters and their
  representatives, however, is not as strong as in
  FPTP, as the STV constituencies have more than
  one seat
• By-elections in multi-member constituencies
  disadvantage smaller parties

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AMS and STV systems are proportional systems.
Advantages

• Votes count (roughly) equal fewer votes are
  wasted
• Voters have more parties with a realistic chance
  of getting elected to choose from
• Tends to lead to higher turnouts than FPTP
  systems
• Usually leads to coalition or minority
  governments consensualism

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Disadvantages with proportional systems

• Weaker links between voters and the elected
• Often muddled relationship between an election
  result and the eventual formation of a
  government. More difficult for voters to hold
  governments accountable
• Hung parliaments more common
• Small parties can be disproportionately
  influential