1. Top ten things you need to know
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
Top ten things you need to know

2. SOME IMPORTANT KEY TERMS1
SOME IMPORTANT KEY TERMS
riding
constituents
electorate
suffrage
“won the seat“
“won the popular vote”

3. FIRST PAST THE POST AKA SINGLE MEMBER PLURALITY2
FIRST PAST THE POST AKA SINGLE MEMBER PLURALITY
Political parties choose candidate to run in riding (or person runs as independent)
Constituents vote for their chosen representative
partly based on the person and partly on ideology of party
The candidate with most votes (plurality) wins the seat

4. CREATION OF GOVERNMENT, OFFICIAL OPPOSITION3
CREATION OF GOVERNMENT, OFFICIAL OPPOSITION
The party w/most seats in House of Commons (or province: in Legislature) = the government
= get to create the executive (PM and Cabinet)
Second most seats = official opposition (shadow cabinet)

5. CONCERN: ARTIFICIAL MAJORITIES4
CONCERN: ARTIFICIAL MAJORITIES
% of popular vote does not usually match % of seats
= power given to a party does not match what the electorate wanted them to have

6. FIRST PAST THE POST Liberal PC NDP Alliance Bloc Other 45% 25% 15% 5%5%
10%
75%
20%
40%
35%
65%
Who won the first riding; second; third…
What would happen if the PC and Alliance merge and share votes
How many seats did the Liberals win – what percent is that
What percent of the overall vote did the Liberals gain
(5/7 = 71%)
(36%)

7. 5 US ELECTORAL COLLEGE On election day citizens vote for president
The votes are added up – whomever gets the most votes wins the state (first past the post)
This information given to electoral college that actually casts the real vote for president

8. Presidential Candidate
% of Votes
% of Electoral Votes
Gore
48.3 49
Bush
48.1 50
Other (Nader)
3.4 1

10. TWO PARTY VS MULTIPARTY6
TWO PARTY VS MULTIPARTY
Two Party
Multi Party
Pros
Clear cut winner (50%)
Greater ideological representation
Cons
Ideologically focused on the center
Minority governments/coalitions

11. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION7
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
Citizens vote for the party of their choice (not a person/representative)
All votes tallied up for entire country
% of popular vote = % of seats in legislature

12. SWEDEN Party % of Votes % of Seats Social Democrat 36.4 37 Moderate
22.9 23
Left-Wing 12
Christian-Democrats
11.8
Center
5.1 5
Liberal
4.7
Green
4.5

13. CONS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION8
CONS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The party gets to choose representatives, not the people
More likely to have minority government and coalitions = less stable
Fringe parties can get more support

14. 9
Mixed member ballot
Proportional Representation
First Past the Post

15. 10 FIXED DATE VS PERIODIC Fixed Date Elections Periodic Elections Pros
Governing party cannot manipulate date in their favor
Shorter election campaign periods
Cons
The next election campaign can begin as soon as the election is over
Governing party can manipulate the date to extend their mandate