Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the British Electoral System as used in

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Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the British Electoral System as used in

The General Election

For many, many years, the first past the post electoral system has been used in Britain.

Since it has been used for so long, it should surely mean that it is a success?

This is not necessarily true, as over the past few years criticism of the system has been

growing and a search for an alternative been started.

The main concern about the system is that it is not fair. It is possible for a party, who gain few votes, to get a huge majority of seats. For example, in the 2001 elections, in Colchester the liberal democrats won 2 more seats than the conservatives, despite the fact that the conservatives got 39.5% of the vote and the Liberal democrats got just 34.5% Also in Croydon, for the third election in a row, the wrong party has won. In this area Labour won 5 more seats than the conservatives, yet the conservatives got 7% more of the vote.

For this reason, it has been said that first past the post is not at all fair, and does not reflect the true feelings or opinions of the voters.

Another fact that shows that the feelings and opinions of the voters are not taken into account, is that thousands of votes throughout the country are put to waste as if their candidate does not win his constituency then their votes will be disregarded. It is therefore possible for a winning candidate in a constituency to get more votes against him, rather than for him. And so the victor cannot truly claim that he has the full support of the people within the whole constituency.
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The same is true at a national level. In the '97 general election Labour got 43.2% of the total votes cast. But, the combined number of votes for the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats represented 47.5% of the voters. Therefore Labour could not truly claim they were the people's party, as the majority of the people throughout Britain didn't want them in power. This was once again true in the 2001 election, with Labour gaining 43% of votes cast and other parties gaining 57% of the vote. Also, no government since 1935 has had the majority of public ...

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