The UK uses two different types of voting system, First Past The Post and Additional Members system (AMS). With Additional Members System (AMS), you get 2 voting paper. With the Additional Members system (AMS), someone is given 2 ballot papers, one with a list of MPS for their constituency MP, and a list of parties on the other. First Past the Post is when the number and percentage of votes a party gets, is tried to match the percentage of seats that a party gets. There is many debates about what one of the electoral voting methods are more representative.
First Past The Post!
First Past the Post electoral system is fair since it usually results in a majority government. This means a party can carry out pledges that they have made in their manifesto without having to compromise with other parties. for example, in 2015 and 2017 elections, many people voted conservative, because they promised to ‘get brexit done’. This may not have happened if we had a collation government, This is representative because those who has voted for the governing party get what they voted for. However, it can also be seen as not fair or representative. cause the majority of the vote.
This means you can have a party in power for 5 years carrying out policies which most people did not actually vote for. The majority governments can pass legislation easily and opposition parties which have more people may have voted for an ineffective, for example, in the 2015 election the conservative party formed the majority. Governments can pass legislation which more people may have voted for in the 2015 election, the conservative party formed the majority government with just 36.9 percent of votes therefore they carried out policies which the vast majority of voters did not support. This is unfair because voters did not use their vote to elect the conservative party have to obey their legislations that they may not support or agree on.
AMS- additional members system.
The additional members system (AMS) results in a more representational result, and this is more fair of how people have voted, rather then FPTP. This is because it is a form of proportional representation. Under FPTP often supporters of one of the main 2 party’s feel their views are represented in parliament and others feel their votes are being waisted. For example, the green party has 8 sears in Scottish parliament under AMS which shows they have some support however when it comes to first past the post, the green party only has 1 seat in west minister parliament. This could be voter apathy, tactical voting, or even voters not feeling represented.
However, some would argue that Additional members system is not represented, as voters do not have a say in who their regional MSP’s are. Voters slightly vote for a party on a ballot paper, then the party dissociate candidates to seats once the results come through. The voters may dislike the MSP that they end up with from the party they voted for, or they might not know who they are. Regional MSPS might not even have any connections to the area.
For example, most people could tell you who their constituency MSP is, but majority of people will not be able to tell you who their other 7 regional MSPS are for throughout their country.
And that is everything you need to know on First past the post, and additional members system (AMS)
For more on AMS, click on this link here.
For more articles like this, click here.
