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Electoral Reform

Electoral Reform. Students should read & précis Chapter 3 (p.67-79) of ‘ Essentials of UK Politics ’ by Heywood. First Past the Post. In which type of elections is the FPTP used in the UK? In simple terms - How does the FPTP system work? What does “ simple plurality ” mean?

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Electoral Reform

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  1. Electoral Reform Students should read & précis Chapter 3 (p.67-79) of ‘Essentials of UK Politics’ by Heywood

  2. First Past the Post • In which type of elections is the FPTP used in the UK? • In simple terms - How does the FPTP system work? • What does “simple plurality” mean? • Can a candidate win an election while obtaining less the 50% of the votes cast?

  3. Single member constituencies • Constituencies in the UK vary in size - Isle of Wight has an electorate of 106,000 - while the Western Isles has less than 22,000. • English Constituencies average 69,000 - - Scottish and Welsh 55,000. Why was there such over-representation? What does DC want to do? • What does the Boundary Committee do?

  4. Two-party system and FPTP • FPTP tends to foster a two-party system. It discourages break away parties and often produces parliamentary majorities un-related to the popular vote …

  5. FPTP outcomes-The Winner’s Bonus • In 1983 and 87 - the Conservatives had a majority of over 100 seats with just over 42% of the popular vote. • In 1997 Labour had a majority of 179 with 43.4% of the vote. In 2001 they had a 167 seat majority with only 40.7% of the popular vote. How can this be justified?

  6. Mock election contest … • Mock election: Volunteers needed to be candidates on the mock ballot papers for each of the main UK parties. • 5 minutes: Vote for the candidate and party of your choice. • The ballot papers will then be collected in and mixed up. • Everyone will then receive a random ballot paper back and we will count up the votes together as a class and declare the winner. (see next slide)

  7. Election contest review • Discussion point: How does the result of the mock election contest highlight the strengths and/or weaknesses of the FPTP system? • Copy the box on FPTP from page 71

  8. Break into Political Pressure Groups • Group1:Advantages of FPTP. • Group 2: Disadvantages of FPTP. Use Garnett and lynch to explain why FPTP is unfair to the Cons.

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