POLITICS UK - CHAPTER 8 - PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION - ELECTIONS AND VOTING lan Gilmour (1971) - "Elections rule the political process but not the government's policy. They decide who rules; they do not rule themselves . Elections in Britain are not confined to choosing MP's . There are elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for devolved legislatures, local elections across the whole of the UK for councils for mayors . Elections are central to democratic political systems - it is though elections that citizens participate directly in the political process and by electing representatives, the people ultimately determine the personnel and policies of governments · Only a government elected by the people is a legitimate government - elections are the mechanisms by which governments are held accountable . General elections allow the people to pass judgement on the performance of the incumbent government and vote to either keep it in office or throw them out · The existence of free, competitive elections is what distinguishes democratic political systems to others (authoritarian) . Elections make a difference to the policies pursued by the governments and hence to the lives of most people . Elections are so central to political - David Butler (1998) "History used to be marked off by the dates of kings ... Now it is marked by the dates of elections" ELECTORAL SYSTEMS ELECTORAL SYSTEM BODY ELECTED Single member, simple plurality (First Past the Post) House of Commons Multi-member, simple plurality Some English/Welsh local authorities Additional member system (AMS) Scottish Parliament, Welsh & London Assembly Single transferable vote (STV) Northern Ireland Assembly, all Scottish councils Regional party list (closed list) Supplementary Vote (SV) Alternative Vote (AV) Additional Member System European Parliament Mayors in England Chairs of Select Committees in the HoC · Voters have two votes . One is used to choose a constituency representative, the other is cast for a party list . The list votes are used to 'top up' those elected in constituencies so that the distribution of representatives across parties within the relevant area is broadly proportional to the share of list votes received
· Generally, this means that no single party is able to win a majority of seats . Scottish Parliament election 2011 - SNP defied the odds and won 69/129 seats · Scottish Parliament election 2016 - SNP only 63/129 seats (not a majority) Single Transferable Vote . Requires multi-member electoral districts - in Scotland, all local council wards elect 3 of 4 councillors · Voters list their choices in order of preference . To be elected, a candidate needs to reach a specified quota of votes (the total number of valid cotes divided by the number of seats at stake) . If no candidate reaches the quota then the votes of the bottom candidate are re-allocated on the basis of second preferences . Similarly 'surplus' votes are re-allocated when a candidate exceeds the quota · The system produced proportional outcomes, which makes it difficult for a majority . Scottish