The British Electoral System
The First Past the Post System Determines the House of Commons
The electoral system used through Britain is the single member constituency with simple majority, better known as the First Past the Post system.
The Mechanics of First Past the Post
For the purposes of general elections, Britain is divided up into single constituencies. Each party who wises to contest the constituency (also known as a seat) must put forward one candidate or representative to stand. Each voter in the constituency then has one vote which they can cast for the candidate or representative of their choice. The candidate with the largest number of votes is elected as the Member of Parliament for that constituency. The party which has the greatest number of elected Members of Parliament then generally forms the government.
The Advantages of the System
As far as electoral systems go, the First Past the Post system is relatively simple and easy for voters to understand. It is also an inexpensive system to run and its simplicity means that a result can be produced fairly quickly. Since each constituency elects only one representative, that person is easily identified with a particular area and voters know who to approach when they have a problem. The First Past the Post system tends to lead to one party gaining a majority in the House of Commons and so voters know which party will form the government and so what policies to expect.
The Disadvantages of First Past the Post
The First Past the Post system is a far from perfect electoral system and, in fact, 5 main disadvantages can be identified:
1. Since the winning candidate needs only to secure a simple majority, it is possible that more people in total may have voted for other candidates than the winner.
2. A party which regularly comes second or third in the constituency votes but that wins very few outright can find themselves with a very high percentage of the total vote but relatively few seats.
3. It is theoretically possible that the party which forms the government may actually have won fewer total votes that their nearest rival.
4. Since there is no uniform number of voters in a constituency, the winner in a small constituency can have received fewer votes than the runner up in a larger constituency.
5. A number of constituencies are considered ‘safe’ for particular parties. In such cases, voters who do not support the dominant party may feel that there is no point voting at all.
It is important to remember that all electoral systems have some disadvantages and in Britain, where tradition has dictated the use of the First Past the Post system, the advantages of the current system are thought to outweigh the disadvantages.
References:
McLean, I. and McMillan, A. (2003) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (2nd Rev Ed.) (Oxford University Press)
Jones, B. et al (2006) Politics UK (6th Ed.) (Longman)
Kingdom, J. (2003) Government and Politics in Britain: An Introduction (3rd Ed.) (Polity Press)
