Electoral systems in context: United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) is well known for the single-member plurality (SMP) or, more colloquially, the first-past-the-post, electoral system. Devolution of power in the late twentieth century, however, introduced new bodies and positions with new electoral systems, with the total reaching six. These consisted of three majoritarian systems – SMP, block vote, and supplementary vote – as well as three proportional systems – single transferable vote, mixed-member proportional representation, and regional list proportional representation. Sample election results are presented and examined. Despite the presence of several different electoral systems and party systems in the UK with the development of multilevel governance, SMP appears to be entrenched at Westminster, just as SMP systems abroad have, in most cases, also resisted change

Electoral system design: The new international IDEA handbook

The Choice of Electoral System is one of the most important institutional decisions for any democracy. In almost all cases the choice of a particular electoral system has a profound effect on the future political life of the country concerned, and electoral systems, once chosen, often remain fairly constant as political interests solidify around and respond to the incentives presented by them. However, while conscious design has become far more prevalent recently, traditionally it has been rare for electoral systems to be consciously and deliberately selected. Often the choice was essentially accidental, the result of an unusual combination of circumstances, of a passing trend, or of a quirk of history, with the impact of colonialism and the effects of influential neighbours often being especially strong

Electoral system reviews in New Zealand, Britain and Canada: a critical comparison

This article compares the use of people outside government to consider electoral reform in three countries using the single-member plurality electoral system. The composition of electoral reform bodies, ranging from commissions of experts (New Zealand) and ex- politicians (Britain) to assemblies of randomly selected citizens (British Columbia), appears to have influenced how well their recommendations were received by the public. Governments should be careful not to assume that they can retain control of the electoral reform process once they let it out of their hands, as the cases of New Zealand and British Columbia show, where majorities of the voters chose reform

Local authority turnout: what’s the story?

While the recent local authority elections attracted their fair share of media headlines, the dominant narrative, as in previous elections, was one of declining turnout and whether or not local government has a future. Little was heard about the nature of the role councils play in their towns, cities and regions, or about the future challenges facing communities and how candidates were planning to deal with them.&nbsp

Who Votes? An Exploration of the Factors Influencing Turnout Propensity in Fingal County

Irish elections in recent decades have been marked by considerably low turnout levels with voter turnout rates varying from place to place. This thesis addressed this issue with respect to the county of Fingal in an attempt to identity the factors that influence individual turnout propensity. Data was collated through a county-wide questionnaire survey which was complemented with interview data from politicians, local councilors, political candidates and party workers. The data was subsequently analysed using SPSS along with qualitative analysis of the interview data, supplemented by the use of ArcView 3.2 to create maps, and Census data to conduct aggregate analyses. This research confirmed the existence of an amalgamation of influential factors on turnout propensity. There were found to be a number of demographic influences on individual turnout propensity with age and martial status proving to be particularly influential. There were also found to be a number of socio-structural influences on turnout propensity in Fingal. However, these influences, which included social class, housing tenure and educational attainment, were found to exist only at the aggregate level. Length of residence was found to be particularly influential with findings on residential stability suggesting the existence of this association at the aggregate level also. The research findings suggested the existence of a “habit” of voting in Fingal. It was also found that an individual sense of political efficacy, understanding of political issues, interest in politics, newspaper readership and feelings of civic duty all influence turnout propensity with many of these factors being interrelated. In addition, there were found to be numerous place variations in relation to the strength of each of the influential factors

Quality of Scottish democracy

The founders of Scottish devolution intended to create a ‘new politics’ that would be less adversarial than British politics. Some of their aspirations resonate with the basic themes of freedom, equality and democratic control in the quality of democracy literature dating back to the 1970s. Authors of this literature disagree on some aspects of what constitutes democratic quality, so a distinction can be made between minimalist and maximalist democratic conceptualisations. This chapter provides examples of both types of conceptualisation present before and after devolution, noting that more recent developments are pushing Scotland in the highly contested maximalist direction

Voting in New Zealand local government elections: the need to encourage greater voter turnout

Within a global context, local government in New Zealand occupies an enviable position: it enjoys both a statutorily-defined ‘power of general competence’ and financial autonomy from central government. However, despite this, voter turnout rates in New Zealand local elections continue to fall as ever fewer New Zealanders engage in this fundamental act of civic engagement. This review article examines the decline in voting over the last four New Zealand local government elections (2010/13/16/19). It aims to do three things: plot the decline; identify and analyse the causes of this decline; and suggest ways in which the decline might be countered. The authors reach the conclusion that local government in New Zealand is at a crossroads – it will either be rejuvenated as a source of local democracy and prosper, or decline into an administrative arm of central government

Special elections in alternative vote electoral systems: Exploring turnout and the vote in Irish by-elections 1923-2019

Most literature on special elections has focused on first-past-the-post contests and on the performance of governments. Turnout, candidates, and how the electoral system impacts the result have received less attention. This contribution fills these voids by exploring special elections in Ireland, elections conducted under the alternative vote system. Taking a multifaceted approach, it investigates the correlates of turnout, the impact of candidates and the decisive effect of lower preferences, while also testing multiple explanations of government performance. I find Irish special elections live up to the by-election truisms of lower turnout and government loss. Government performance is associated with national economic conditions. By-election victory is more likely among candidates with familial lineage and former members of parliament. Where they come into play, one in five candidates owe their victory to lower preferences

Single transferable vote in local and national elections

The single transferable vote (STV) is a system of preferential voting designed to minimize wasted votes. In STV, a constituency elects two or more representatives per electorate. As a result the constituency is proportionally larger than a single member constituency from each party. Political parties tend to offer as many candidates as they most optimistically could expect to win; the major parties may nominate almost as many candidates as there are seats, while the minor parties and independents rather fewer. STV initially allocates an elector’s vote for her most preferred candidate and then, after candidate have been either elected or eliminated, transfers surplus or unused votes according to the voter’s stated preferences (ties disallowed). The paper deals with different STV counting methods so that one can compare among them and analyze advantages and drawbacks of them. Since in STV ties are disallowed, so that tie-breaking in STV is important and are discussed in some details. In STV manipulation of voting is sometimes possible and this paper has taken an attempt to give a clear concept of STV manipulation

Single transferable vote in local and national elections

The single transferable vote (STV) is a system of preferential voting designed to minimize wasted votes. In STV, a constituency elects two or more representatives per electorate. As a result the constituency is proportionally larger than a single member constituency from each party. Political parties tend to offer as many candidates as they most optimistically could expect to win; the major parties may nominate almost as many candidates as there are seats, while the minor parties and independents rather fewer. STV initially allocates an elector’s vote for her most preferred candidate and then, after candidate have been either elected or eliminated, transfers surplus or unused votes according to the voter’s stated preferences (ties disallowed). The paper deals with different STV counting methods so that one can compare among them and analyze advantages and drawbacks of them. Since in STV ties are disallowed, so that tie-breaking in STV is important and are discussed in some details. In STV manipulation of voting is sometimes possible and this paper has taken an attempt to give a clear concept of STV manipulation