1. SA1: Living in a Democracy Electoral Systems

2. Proportional Representation Aims: Define Proportional Representation (PR) Examine different types of PR systems which can be used to decide the result of an election.

3. A Definition Many people would like to get rid of the First Past the Post system and use PR to decide the result of an election. Proportional Representation basically means: % of seats = % of votes

4. The National/Regional List System Used in countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and Denmark. The voter choose a political party not a candidate. Each party has a list of candidates – one for each seat in the country. They put their candidates in order of preference i.e. who they would like to become MPs first. If a party gets 10% of the vote they would get 10% of the seats in the House of Commons. The first 65 names on the party list would become MPs.

5. The 2010 Election Result Political Party % of Vote No of Seats FPTP No of Seats Nat List Conservative36.1%307235 Labour29.0%258189 Liberal Democrat 23%57150 Others11.9%2876

6. The Single Transferable Vote (STV) Used in the Irish Republic. Country is divided into multi-member constituencies e.g. each constituency elects 3 MPs. Vote for candidates in order of preference. To be elected a candidate has to reach a quota – a certain number of votes. The surplus votes of the winners would be redistributed to those who did not reach the quota. This would continue until the full number of MPs are elected. No votes are wasted using this system.

7. Proportional Representation Advantages: It is fair. Each party gets the same % of MPs as votes. Small parties get better representation All votes are important Many other countries use PR e.g. Italy, Ireland. Disadvantages: Can be complicated to understand/organise. Often leads to coalition government as no party has a majority – nobody has voted for a coalition. Smaller parties get too much power – their support can determine who is in a coalition government. Representatives may not have a direct link with their constituents.