Electoral Systems week 5 Does the defeat for AV referendum mean
that reform is off the agenda? Joy Johnson
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Electoral systems key texts Morrison, Public Affairs for
Journalists King, British constitution Laws, 22 Days in May
Renwick, a citizens guide to electoral reform Baston & Ritchie
Dont Take No For An Answer the 2011 Referendum The Coalition
Constitution and the Constitution, Bogdanor Various papers inc:
John Curtice, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol. 63 No. 4, 2010,
623638
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Labour defend their position result a hung Parliament
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/electio n_2010/8667457.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/electio n_2010/8667457.stm
UK polarised Conservative in the South, Labour in the North and
Scotland Result - First Past the Post (winner takes all)
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Day after the night before
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_ 2010/8669690.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_ 2010/8669690.stm
Clegg addresses media following the 2010 general election With no
outright winner he tells reporters that he would talk to the
Conservatives as they had the most votes He declares that this
election showed that the present system is broken
Result of Erdington Single plurality system Simons won the vote
And with more than half the vote Other candidates votes wasted
Party machines tend to ignore the safe seats and concentrate on the
marginals key seat battleground 2011 labour party defended their
seats helped prevent a Conservative overall majority
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Examples Argyll & Bute Turnout 67,271 (64.3%) Reid, A (LD)
15,786 (36.5%) Mcgrigor, J.A.R.N (Con) 10,150 (23.5%) Mnson, C
(Lab) 9,692 (22.4%) Henderson, D (SSP) 881 (2.0%) LD majority
5,636
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Result of Argyll & Bute Winning candidate well short of
fifty per cent Those opposing Liberal Democrat accounted for nearly
two-thirds of the vote
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Result of 2005 UK Gen Election Party %votes No of seats % seats
Labour 35.3 356 55.1 Con 32.3 198 30.7 Lib Dem 22.1 62 9.6 Other
10.3 30 4.6
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Result Labours majority reduced from 2001 yet the party
achieved 55 per cent share of H of C seats with just 35 per cent of
the national vote. Majority of the seats with a minority of the
votes
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2010 election result
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010 /results/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010 /results/
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Scotlands electoral system Scottish Parliament How the
Additional Member System (AMS) works 129 Members of the Scottish
Parliament (MSPs) Each elector (voter) has two votes. 73
constituencies Each constituency one MSP on first past the post (as
in Westminster elections._ This is the elector's 'first vote'. The
'second vote' is used to elect 56 additional members. Scotland is
divided into 8 parliamentary Regions and each region elects 7
regional MSPs. The parties are then allocated a number of
additional members to make the overall result more proportional.
The regional MSPs are selected from lists compiled by the parties.
These MSPs are also sometimes referred to as List MSPs.
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Fixed terms (Scottish Parliament) General elections for the
Scottish Parliament take place every four years, normally on the
first Thursday in May. First Minister cannot call an election
before the end of four years. Only in extraordinary circumstances
can the date be changed by a two-thirds majority of all MSPs.
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Majoritarian systems Term used to classify candidates who win
by obtaining majority of votes cast (first past the post can result
in candidates winner on fewer than half the total votes cast)
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Supplementary vote Supplementary vote used in London Mayoral
election If only two candidates first past the post used More than
two Votes cast on preference 1 st and 2 nd choice If candidate wins
more than half (majority) he or she elected If not, others drop out
and their 2 nd preference redistributed
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Result UK councils/BBC At-a-glance: Elections 2012 PM hails
Johnson mayoral victory Labour are back, says Ed Miliband Cities
say 'no' to elected mayors Vote 2012: As it happened Projected vote
share: Labour 38%, Conservatives 31%, Lib Dems 16%, others 15%
Labour have gained 823 councillors seats, the Conservatives have
lost 405 and the Lib Dems 336 The Conservatives are nine points
down on 2008, Labour are up 16 points and the Lib Dems down eight
points Turnout is projected at 32% - the lowest in English local
elections since 2000
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London Mayor - result Boris Johnson 971,931 first preference
votes Ken Livingstones 889,918, neither reached the 50% mark,
second preference votes were taken into account. The Labour
candidate won (more second pref) 102,355 to his rivals 82,880, but
it was not enough to put him in front. In a further poor result for
the Liberal Democrats, the partys candidate Brian Paddick was
beaten into third place by the Jenny Jones of the Greens. Paddick
won 91,774 votes to Joness 98,913. Independent Siobhan Benita was
fifth with 83,914.
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Alternative Vote (AV) Lib Dems compromised to get the agreement
Referendum 5 May 2011 Referendum on AV had been in Labour 2010
manifesto Preferential not proportional All candidates ranked in
order When all votes cast if one candidate has won over 50% elected
If not candidate with the fewer first preference is eliminated and
his or her are redistributed Last candidate eliminated Eventually
candidate with more than 50% wins More than 50% produces legitimacy
Least unpopular wins Electors first choice not counted
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AV cont Still has single member constituency Shouldnt produce
extremist parties Result of this system would be the election of
many candidates who were not the first choice of most of the
electorate Leading to least common denominator of the electorate
Nick Clegg in the past had called it a miserable little compromise
but this was before the coalition government Political parties
still retain power to chose candidates
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AV result 19.1m people voted in the second UK-wide referendum
in history - a higher than expected turnout of 41%. The final
result put the Yes vote at 32.1% and the No vote at 67.9%.
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AV (vote on national issues) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
Eyg_f7nTYo (Mandelson interview) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
Eyg_f7nTYo
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Proportional Representation In systems of proportional
representation, every party provides a list of candidates for
selection on a regional or national basis. These lists may be open
or closed: an open list means electors have the ability to indicate
some preference over which of the candidates they choose from the
party list; a closed list means electors must vote for the party as
a whole and the list is presented to them as a fait accompli. Each
party standing for election wins seats in accordance with the
proportion of votes it receives. A closed list system is used for
European parliamentary elections.
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Cameron campaigning against AV Clegg for AV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAWmKgI Oqv8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAWmKgI Oqv8
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/av-
referendum/8332801/AV-referendum-its-a-
once-in-a-generation-opportunity-says-Nick- Clegg.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/av-
referendum/8332801/AV-referendum-its-a-
once-in-a-generation-opportunity-says-Nick- Clegg.html
Question Essential public for journalists, Morrison Ch 4 Dont
Take No For An Answer, Baston & Ritchie Ch 9 The Coalition and
the Constitution, Bogdanor, Ch 5 With the defeat of the AV
referendum is that the end for the reform of how UK votes in
Westminster elections?