The role of elections in a democracy Do elections guarantee democracy? Unit 1.
Transcript of The role of elections in a democracy Do elections guarantee democracy? Unit 1.
The role of elections in a democracy
Do elections guarantee democracy? Unit 1
This week in British politics
• WOOLAS OUSTED OVER ELECTION SLURS• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11699888• COULSON QUESTIONED OVER HACKING
CLAIMS• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11703766• Labour MP Paul Farrelly admits incident in
Parliament • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11703621
Elections
• Elections in established democracies are generally free and fair. Today, more countries hold elections that meet the criteria.
• Even in countries with dubious democratic credentials, elections are still recognised by the ruling authorities as being useful.
• Eg. Burma• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11
704738
Types of elections in Britain
• General elections
• Local elections
• European elections
• Elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Occasional by-elections.
Key terms.Define;
• Representation –
• Proportional Representation –.
• Mandate –
• Electoral mandate –
Key Concepts
• Representation – standing for, or acting on behalf of, a body of people.
• Proportional Representation – A principle or system in which parties are represented in an assembly proportional to their electoral strength.
• Mandate – an authoritative instruction or command from a higher body that demands compliance.
• Electoral mandate – an election victory is interpreted, by the successful party, as giving it a mandate from the people to govern the nation.
• ‘Strong in the belief that Tuesday’s vote delivered him a mandate to govern President Bush will begin his second term’
Electoral systems used in UK
• FPTP – Westminster
• Closed Regional Party List – MEPs
• Additional Member System – Scottish Parl., Welsh Assembly, GLA
• Single Transferable Vote – N.I
• Supplementary Vote – Mayor of London
• Majoritarian
• Proportional
Simple Plurality System
• First Past the Post System;• Used in Westminster Elections• Single member constituencies; Representation• 650 seats at last election• Just one more vote than next person needed to
win – majority not required (plurality)• Party with most number of seats in parliament
forms govt.- carries through mandate• Accountable (MPs want single member
constituency)
Israel
• 120 members in Knesset
• 1 national constituency - voters vote for party lists
• Votes proportional to seats won
• Threshold of 2% votes to win a seat
• As pure a form of P.R there is.
FPTP - Advantages
• Simple to understand• Voter can express view
on which party should form next govt.
• Leads to 2 party system – single party govts. Strong enough to create legislation
• Close link between the MP and constituency.
• System represents views of the people, as candidate with greatest support wins through fair process.
• Hold candidates to account – Tatton 1997 – Neil Hamilton voted out for sleaze.
• It works, why change?!
FPTP - Disadvantages
• Only 1 MP elected in each constituency, so all voters who didn’t vote for MP are not represented. See Table 1
• Wasted votes – 1997; 14.7 million voters cast ineffective votes (48% electorate) See Table 2
• Lack of choice – do not choose candidates.
• Votes non – transferable.
• Voters are represented unequally; 1997 – ave. number of votes per MP elected: 32,376 for Labour, 113,826 for Lib Dems.
• Concentrated support wins seats. Conservatives won 18% votes in Scotland yet won no seats.
• 2005 Labour won 35% votes yet won 62% seats.
Proportional Representation
• Aim of P.R;
• i) Ensure party representation mirrors as closely as possible level of support for various parties as a whole
• ii) To provide voters with some degree of choice.
Closed Party List – European elections
• Multi member constituencies. Ballot paper holds list of political parties rather than list of candidates. Seats allocated according to no. of votes won.
• UK elects 78 MEPS to European Parliament every 5 years.
• Uses the D’Hondt Formula: Number of Votes cast Number of Seats won plus 1
• Closed means that voters cannot determine which candidates are elected, just vote for party. (party will have order)
• Regional lists divides country into regions – 12.
European elections 2004
• 7 MEPs elected for Eastern region; 3 Conservatives, 2 UKIP, 1 Labour, 1 Lib Dem.
• Overall: • Cons-27• Lab – 19• UKIP- 12• Lib Dems – 12• Green – 2• SNP – 2• Plaid Cymru - 1
Closed Party Lists
• Advantages;• Higher degree of
proportionality• Simple for voters to
use, just vote for a party
• Disadvantages:• Voters have little say
on the candidates• Accountability lost
with multi member candidates
• Parties become all powerful as select candidates
Single Transferable Vote
• Used in Republic Ireland, NI Assembly • Multi member constituencies• Option favoured by electoral reform society.
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk• Preferential voting – ie. Order the candidates in
order or preference.• As many votes as there are candidates• Uses a quota to distribute votes =
Votes cast in constituencySeats in constituency +1
+1
Single Transferable Vote
• Why quota?• To find the smallest number of votes to ensure
that only the target number of candidates can achieve election.
• Candidates who gain more votes than are needed to achieve the quota have the excess removed and redistributed.
• If target number of candidates still not achieved then last placed candidate eliminated.
See Banbridge West Ward 1997 Election.
STV
Advantages• Only complicated for the
returning officer. Simply rank candidates
• Wide range of choices• Every vote counts – fewer
wasted votes• Fairer to smaller parties• Likely to produce
coalitions• Good at securing election
of women and minority groups
Disadvantages• Election results may take
some time to announce. (weeks)
• Calculation is very complicated.
• Downside to coalition governments
• No link between MP and constituency
Northern Ireland 2007• Multi party system• 1998 Good Friday Agreement – power sharing agreement involving
2 nationalist and 2 unionist parties.
Party Total Votes %votes Seats Change from 03
DUP 207,721 30.1 36 +6
Sinn Fein 180,573 26.2 28 +4
Ulster Unionist
103,145 14.9 18 -9
SDLP 105,164 15.2 16 -2
Alliance 36,139 5.2 7 +1
Green 11,985 1.7 1 +1
others 45,586 6.6 1 -
Additional Member System – Hybrid System
• Used in elections for Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, London Assembly
• Two types of MP – those elected under FPTP (MP1) and an additional top up member chosen from lists of party nominees (MP2)
• MP1 are constituency representatives
• MP2 are party representatives to reflect proportional votes cast for that party - regional
• Voters have two ballots – one for constituency vote and one for regional vote.
• D’Hondt formula used:
Votes cast for party in regional listAll seats won by that party in
region +1
All Wales Convention - Time for the next step?
• The current powers available to the National Assembly are enough?
• It’s the right time for Wales to take the next step towards full law making powers?
AMS – Features
• Advantages:• Greater proportionality • Gives opportunity for
voters to split their vote• Smaller parties given
greater opportunity for representation
• Combines best features of FPTP and List system
• Disadvantages:• Total proportionality not
achieved• Question over
accountability
http://new.wales.gov.uk/awcsub/awchome/?lang=en
Results if party list or STV used in 2005 election
Seats won: List (FPTP)
Seats won: STV
Labour 227 (356) 263
Conservative 209 (197) 200
Lib Dems 142 (62) 147
SNP / Plaid 14 13
Others 54 (30) 23
Question - Would the results have been fairer if either system had been in use in 2005?