Voting Systems - Referendums In The UK

Distinguish Between Elections & Referendums.
Elections	Referendums
Feature of representative democracy	Example of direct democracy
Determines who holds the political power – who gets to form the government	One-off vote on a specific issue
Citizens vote in geographical location	A single ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response
Covers many issues of party policy	The decision to hold one is taken by the government.
Elections are required by law

There have been 3 nationwide referendums:

• 1975 – continued membership in the ECC?
• 2011 – should we change the voting system to AV from FPTP?
• 2016 – should we remain in the EU?

Local Referendums:

• Establishing directly elected mayors – can be triggered by central governments
• Congestion charges – Edinburgh in 2005 and Manchester in 2008, in both cases some ¾ of voters said no.
• Council tax increases – when the local authority proposes to increase the council tax above the threshold set by the government a referendum must be held to approve it. In Bedfordshire, this was rejected in 2015.
• Neighbourhood plans – The localism act 2011 requires local authorities to hold referendums on neighbourhood plans for housing developments.
• Parish polls – the local government act 1972 allows voters to request that a parish council hold a referendum on a local issue. Regulations were tightened after criticism that the system was being used to hold votes on issues that were not local matters.

National Referendums:

• Constitutional Change: The Blair government holds referendums to approve their proposals for constitutional change, particularly devolution.
• Coalition agreement: Such as the one in 2011 on replacing FPTP with AV, was a central feature of the 2010 coalition, also included commitments to referendums on Welsh devolution.
• Party management: By calling the 1975 and the 2016 EEC/EU referendums. Harold Wilson and David Cameron hoped to resolve long-running internal party divisions on the issue on European integration. Neither was successful.
• Political Pressure: The momentum for a Scottish independence referendum became unstoppable after SNP rose in 2011. The rise of UKIP and the media led Cameron to call the EU vote. However, governments are likely to call a referendum which they are going to lose.

Referendum Regulations:

• Wording: The commission comments on the intelligibility of the proposed referendum questions. The governments are not required to accept these recommendations but tend to do so.
• Campaign Participation: Groups individuals who expect to spend than £10,000 on referendum campaigning must register as participants with the electoral commission. Designates the lead organisations for each side of the campaign. These organisations have a higher spending limit, receive public money and are entitled to television broadcasts.
• Campaign Spending: The commission ensures that organisations and individuals ashore tot eh limit on funding on spending.
• Conduct of the Campaign: After the referendum, the commission issues a report on administration and spending. Its report on the 2016 EU referendum questioned the rules regarding spending by the UK government.

Have Referendums Enhanced Representative Democracy?
Yes	No
Introduced direct democracy ensuring citizens have the final say	Undermines representative democracy taking complex issues taking away the power from politicians who understand more.
Checks the power of the government, making it more responsive to the wishes of the people	Undermines Parliamentary Soverenty and can create tensions between Parliament and the people.
Enhances political participation, notably in Scotland.	Governments take advantage of the authority to decide when it calls them to strengthen there position
Educates people on key issues and improves popular understanding of politics	Turnout is low with decisions taken on the basis of votes cast by a minority of people
Legitimises important constitutional chances of devolution.	Campaigns have been ill-formed and distorted by inaccurate claims made by rival camps.

Parliamentary Sovereignty:

• States that Parliament is the highest legal authority and can make laws on any matters of its choosing.
• Citizens elect representatives on their behalf to make decisions
• Referendum mark a shift towards popular sovereignty in which people rather than Parliament make the final decision
• Most UK referendums are not legally binding and Parliament retains the authority to respond as it sees fit.
• Legislation means the government would have been required to choose the electoral system if the yes vote was voted in 2011
• Claims of legitimacy was evident after 2016 and it was followed by a debate on whether and how the government should invoke article 50
• Some people prioritise Parliamentary Sovereignty arguing that the referendum had not authorised the terms of Brexit and that Parliament must be asked to give its consent for the country to leave the EU.
• By by-passing the result, the legitimacy of the government and political system.

Constitutional Convention: Since the 1997 devolution, it has become a constitutional convention that further changes to the devolved settles would approve in a referendums.

Voting Systems - AMS & Coalitions

Additional Member System:

• You get two votes, one for the local MP and one for the region.
• Local MP vote works via FPTP
• LIST system for the regional vote.
• For the regional seat, parties have to draw up a list of candidates and they decide the order that they’ll be elected with electors can only vote for one party.
• % of votes = % of seats for the regional seats but if a party has won a disproportionally high number of seats they may not be in the last.
• Regional seats are allocated using the ‘Hondt formula”
• “Total number of votes/number of seats already + seats gained
• Elected in the order they appear on the party list.

Advantages:

• Combines best features of FPTP and proportional representation
• Votes are less likely to be wasted
• Voters have greater choice
• Improves representation of women
• Easy to count, not difficult to understand how the outcome is reached

Disadvantages:

• Creates two categories, one with the consistency and one without so this may create tensions within the legislative assembly.
• Parties have control over the closed list so voters cannot pick members.
• Smaller parties are under-representative because only a few members are elected.
• Proportional outcomes are less likely where the number of additional members was in the Welsh assembly.

Reasons For & Against Coalition Governments.
For	Against
Strong governments aren’t always a good thing. The Large majority can override Parliament and the other members.	Forming them can be slow and difficult. May also not be durable and the public doesn't vote for them.
Provides more stability and continuity because the country won’t just swing from left to the right.	Polices become toned down over new allocations of government positions.
Policies will be based on the support of the general public.	Major policy decisions may be stopped if it is hard to reach agreement on an issue.
Parties work together in the spirit of compromise for the good of the country.	Policies become ‘fuzzy’ as they are for the ‘catch all’ citizens.
3rd parties – Lib Dems have a moderating effect helping extreme policies not get into place.	Small parties can stop the larger party from carrying certain legislative wishes.

Voting Systems - SV, LIST & STV Systems

Supplementary Voting:

• Used to elect the mayor of London and other mayors in towns and cities
• Also used to elect police and crime commissioners.

How It Works:

• Voters record their first and second preferences.
• If no candidate wins a majority all by the top two are eliminated and the second preference votes for the two remaining candidates are added to the first preference votes.
• Candidate with the highest total is elected.

Advantages:

• Winning candidate has broad support giving them greater legitimacy
• Supporters of smaller parties can use there first preference to express there allegiance to another candidate to indicate which major party they want to become elected.
• Votes of those who use first and second preference to support minor parties do not influence.

Disadvantages:

• Winner may be elected without a majority if second votes aren’t used effectively.
• Winning candidate does not need a majority of the first vote as the popular candidate could take over.
• Would not deliver a proportional outcome if this system was used for a general election.

Proportional System:

• % of votes = % of MPs

LIST System:

• For example, each party must produce a list of 100 MPs and there are no names on the ballot paper, votes are added.
• First of votes for each party become the MP
• So if 25% of the voters vote for Labour out of 100 MPs, there will be 25 Labour MPs.
• It is fair but mostly has coalition governments.
• % of votes = % of MPs you vote.

Single Transferable Vote:

• Also proportional
• The Liberal Democrats wanted it in 2011
• It includes some very hard maths
• Each consistency is a multi-member consistency.
• Each party provides a list of names
• You have a number of votes depending on how many MPs can be elected.
• Brings more females and ethnic minorities to Parliament.
• Likely to provide a hung Parliament though.
• Voting is preferential – number the candidates besides there name.
• Voting is ordinal – you can vote for as many as you like
• Candidates must achieve a quota known as the Droop Quota.
• If no candidate reaches the quota on the first count, the second preference is transferred.
• It is carried on until a candidate wins.

Advantages:

• Proportional and ensures votes are largely or equal in weight.
• Winner of government will have 50% of the vote.
• Greater choice of people to pick from.

Disadvantages:

• Less accurate in translating votes into seats than a proportional system.
• Weak link between MPs and consistency.
• Produces a coalition government that may be unstable and can give influence to minor parties.
• The counting process is lengthy and complex.

Voting Systems - An Intro, AV and FPTP

Letter:	Stand For:	Meaning:
P	Proportionality	% of vote = % of seats
A	Accountability	Can you get rid of your MP if you want to?
V	Value	All votes should count/be equal in weight
E	Effectiveness	Does it produce strong, single-party government?
C	Comprehensibility	Is it easy to understand?

Type Of Voting System:

1. Simple Plurality Voting: FPTP
2. Majoritarian System: Alternative Voting & Supplemented Voting
3. Proportional: LIST & Single Transferable Vote
4. Mixed Systems: Hybrid System, Additional Member System & Alternative Voting Plus.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of The FPTP System:

Advantages

• Usually produces strong, stable, single-party government with working majorities. 2010? 2015? 2017?
• It is simple and familiar, results are easily understood.
• Provides and maintains a close MP/constituents link
• Usually, avoids “hung” Parliaments/ provides single party government.
• Usually, avoids the need for a coalition government. Coalitions require negotiating, “horse trading” and deal making. Voters won’t have voted for a coalition government.
• Keeps so-called “extremist” parties such as the BNP, UKIP and Communist Party out of Parliament.
• It works, why fix it?

Disadvantages

• It doesn’t accurately reflect the way people voted and penalises the third party. In 2017 the Conservatives won 42 % of the vote but 49% of the seats. In 2015 UKIP won 13% of the vote but just 0.2% of the seats. In 1983 the Alliance (Liberals and SDP) had 25% of the vote, 3.5% of the seats!
• No party since 1935 has had over half the vote. In 2017 the Conservatives had around 30% of the total eligible vote.
• It can result in “electoral deserts” (Lord Jenkins – Jenkins Report) in different parts of the country. Between 1979 and 1997 Scotland and Wales, and major northern cities in England become almost Conservative free zones. In 1997 20% voted Conservative in Scotland but they didn’t win a single seat. In 2015 Scotland returned just 1 Conservative, 1 Labour and 1 Lib Dem MP.
• A high proportion of votes are wasted in each constituency. Votes for the losing candidate and excess votes for the winning candidate haven’t counted for anything – the votes had no value.
• Too much emphasis, as a result of the voting system, is placed on marginal seats. The system creates too many safe seats. In safe seats, seats, where a party is guaranteed to win, turnout as a result of the foregone conclusion, is usually low.
• It is possible for a winning Party to have more seats but fewer votes than its rival. For example in 1951 the Conservatives won the election in terms of seats but had fewer votes! The same thing happened in February 1974, Labour had more seats but fewer votes!
• It discriminates against women and ethnic minorities in that selection committees tend to choose a “safe” candidate and go for the type for most likely to win; a white male.
• Lord Hailsham (1976) spoke of the system as producing an “elective dictatorship”. In other words, the system gives too much power to the Government who use their majority and whipping system to ensure that everything they want goes through Parliament. And this is with the winning party having less than 50% of the votes!
• The system encourages some people to vote tactically and not always for their first preference if their favoured candidate has no chance of winning.
• Professor John Kingdom suggests FPTP only works – in other words, produces strong stable single-party government – if there are TWO main parties who between them get 95/98% of the vote. In the 1950s Labour and Conservatives had 96% of the vote. In 2017 the figure it was 83%%. Other parties have 17% of the vote.

What Functions Do Electoral Systems Need:

• Representation: In a representative democracy it enables a large group to select a small group to act on their behalf.
• Choosing A Government: A General Election’s determine the composition of the House of Commons but as the minority government to determine which party has the actual power
• Participation: Voting is a key act of political participation for most citizens
• Influence Over Power: Elections allow citizens to voice their police preferences. Issues a manifesto than a mandate.
• Accountability: The government and individual MPs are held accountable can also be removed from power.
• Citizen Education: Provide citizens with information on major political issues which allows people to make an informed decision.
• Legitimacy: They give legitimacy to the winning party and the system as a whole.
• Elite Recruitment: Parties nominate candidates for election and provide them with campaign resources and in return, they want loyalty towards that party.

Free And Fair Elections:

• Elections should be competitive, fair and free
• Voters should have a meaningful choice
• Basic civic liberties such as freedom of speech, free press, the value of vote. Some people say the UK fails on this.
• Democratic and elitists theorists hold different views, prioritise the role of people in politics.
• They focus on policy influence, participation and accountability. Government should act in accordance with the wishes of the people
• Elitists think elections should provide authority and stability for the political system. The elite decides what is in the interest of the people.

Elections In The UK:

• General Elections: 650 MPs who make up the House of Commons, 5-year terms for governments. Must seek 2/3’s of the majority in the Houses of Commons to hold early elections.
• Elections To Devoted Assemblies: Elections to Scottish and Irish assemblies which are held every five years.
• Local Elections: 4-year terms and then re-elected, all at the same time. Same for police leaders.
• European Parliament Elections: UK elect them every 5 years however after 2019 we won’t since we voted to leave the EU
• By-Election: Held to choose a new representative if a seat becomes empty due to resignation or death of that MP
• Three parts of the UK which aren’t elected: Head of state, Any member in the House Of Lord and Judiciary members.

The First Past The Post System

• Used by USA, Canada and India as well the UK
• Used by most countries in the world
• One MP gets elected in this system and the one with the most votes will gain the seat
• Minor parties’ votes are wasted in this system
• For example, the SNP won under half the votes but less seats overall.
• MPs can also be elected in small proportions in small areas.

Alternative Voting:

• MPs get majority support of 50% at least
• Can produce more disproportionate votes than FTPT
• You vote using numbers in order of preference and then the votes are added, if no party has a 50% majority then the lowest votes are taken out and the 2^nd preference for those votes are counted and added on until a party gets a 50% majority.
• Less tactical voting and no wasted votes
• But it also means that some people can get 2 votes.

Constituency Boundaries:

• Determined by an independent commission every 8-12 year
• Isle of Wright has the biggest constituency.
• 650 constituencies will become 600 by the 2020 election.
• Urban constituencies have fewer elections than rural ones.

Safe & Marginal Seats:

• In safe seats the same party wins election after election because the majority is so large
• In 2017, the safe seat was Watson which won 85% of the Labour vote
• Marginal seats have a small majority where the rivals have the best chance to overturn the result
• Turnout tends to be higher in these seats because the votes actually make a difference.
• North East Fife was the biggest marginal seats in 2017 winning by 2 votes.
• Marginal seats are on the decline which means that we have a more hung parliament, however, in 2017, we have seen a rise of ‘super’ marginal seats.

Features Of First Past The Post:

Two Party System:

• A system in which two major parties compete for office. Favours the major parties that have strong nationwide support.
• Smaller parties find it difficult to win seats
• Outsider parties find it hard to win seats e.g UKIP won 12.6% of the vote at the 2015 General Election but they only won one seat
• However, now we have a multi-party system however the 2017 General Election reversed this trend as 2 main parties won 86% of the votes.

Winning Bonus:

• FTPT exaggerated the performance of the popular party producing a winner bonus/landslide effect.
• Small lead over the second party is translated into a substantial lead. Labour did in 1997 and in 2001. The Consertivate Party did in 1983 and 1987.

Bais To One Major Party:

• FPTP is biased towards one of the two political party
• System favoured Labour from the 1990s to 2010, between 1997 and 2005, the proportional of seats won by the Conservative party was lower than the vote. In 2010, the Conservates led Labour by 7% but still fell 19 seats short of a majority.
• There are a number of reasons:
• Tactical Voting: Labour benefited from the anti-conservative tactile voting from 1997-2005.
• Differences In Constituency Size: The electorate constituency by won Labour in 2015 was 3850 lower than the Tories. Due to the movement of voters from urban to rural areas.
• Differential Turnout: Turnout is lower in seats held by Labour, 62% compared to 69% for the Conservative party. Labour needed fewer seats between 1997 and 2010.
• Labour retained its advantage in consistency size and turnout in 2015 but Conservative vote was evenly distributed.
• Tory has reaped the main benefits of the collapse of support. Labour lost 40 seats to the SNP.
• The Conservative party performed best in marginal seats with a 4.5% in votes in marginal seats.
• In 2017, the Tories gained 12 seats in Scotland helped by anti-SNP tactile voting, Labour share of seats in Scotland was lower than the share of votes.

Discrimination Against The Smaller Parties:

• Discriminates again third parties and parties whose support is not concentrated in particular region
• Mechanics: FTPT makes it hard for smaller parties to win as there are no rewards for coming second.
• Psychology: Smaller parties have a credibility problem because votes for them are shown to be a “wasted vote”.
• Lib Dems have been a consistent loser under FTPT notably in 1983 since they targeted particular seats and local campaigns helped them to reach 62 seats in 2005 but this was a bad outcome.
• In 2015, UKIP had an increase in the share of votes but only got one MP.
• Came second in 120 consistencies but only they were only 10% of the votes from winning most of the seats.
• Parties in one region e.g Plaid Cymru do better in terms of matching seats.
• SNP showed how one party with strong regional support when FTPT, winning 50% of the vote and only 95% of the seats in Scotland.

Single Party Government:

• FTPT tends to produce single-party majority governments with working parliamentary majority.
• Coalition governments are rare at Westminster.
• Since WW2, there have only been 3 coalition governments.
• The 2015 General Election brought a brief return to the single-party government by the majority was less than 12
• 4/7 General Elections held between 1910 and 1929 did not produce a majority government.