Transcript The Additional Members System

The Additional Members System
By Sandy, Rhiordan, Fraser, Megan, Leigh, Jordan,
Eleanor, Josie, Stephen.
How it works and where it’s used
• The system’s used in: The Scottish Parliament, The Welsh Assembly, The
Greater London Assembly, The German Bundestag, New Zealand's House
of Representatives, Mexico's Cámara de Diputados (lower house), Bolivia's
Cámara de Diputados (lower house),Lesotho's National Assembly (lower
house)
• Voters usually have two votes, one for the party and the second for the
candidate in a constituency, even if sometimes these votes are combined.
The constituency representatives are generally elected under the first-pastthe-post voting system. The party representatives are elected by a party
vote, where the electors vote for a political party, and usually not directly
for an individual. The particular individuals selected come from lists drawn
up by the political parties before the election, at a national or regional level.
Advantages/Disadvantages of AMS
•
Smaller parties benefit, this is because of the regional vote where parties get seats equal to
the percentage of the vote. 30% of the vote means 30% of the seats. For example in the 2011
Scottish Election, the Green party gained 2 seats, compared to only 1 in the 2010 General
Election in Westminster.
•
With AMS there is no wasted vote. If the voter doesn’t like the party candidate they can still
support the party by using their regional vote. For example in the 2007 the SNP got 26% of
the regional vote and 21% of the constituency vote yet still ended up in power.
•
AMS can be complicated. People can get confused as to what to do with their 2 votes. In the
2007 Scottish Election 100,000 ballots were spoiled and this is undemocratic because people
who don’t know how to vote simply wont.
•
Candidates can get into the Scottish Parliament without being elected. If they don’t win the
constituency vote, there is still the chance they could be elected through the regional vote. In
2007 for example, Linda Fabiani lost her constituency vote but managed to get into
parliament through the regional vote.
Disadvantages of other systems
•
•
•
STV-Coalition can lead to instability. In East Dumbartonshire in 2007 the Labour
and Conservative parties formed a coalition simply to keep the SNP out of power.
Causes arguments and not much politics get done
Can cause confusion as parties can put forward more than one candidate.
•
FPTP-Smaller parties are unlikely to win. In the 2010 General Election Labour only
had 29% of the vote but 258 seats. Liberal Democrats got 23% of the vote but 57
seats.
•
FPTP creates voter apathy. The influence of social class means elections are
marginal. Parties have an inbuilt advantage where they have core voters. The seat
of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill is the safest seat in the UK. In 2005, Labour
MP Tom Clarke won the seat with a majority of 19,519 votes.
Question and answer
Q-AMS is designed to stop single party dominance. However in the 2011
election the SNP won with a majority. Does this mean AMS does not keep
true to it’s initial principles?
A-Preventing single party dominance can be seen as a benefit of AMS.
However, to say it was designed to stop this is not entirely true. I was
designed more to be of greater representation of the vote.
Q-What is a Hung Parliament?
A- A hung parliament is when no party has the overall majority of seats in the
House of Commons. It means the Government will need to gain the support
of members of other parties in order to win votes to pass laws.