"Recent general election results have shown the need for electoral reform." Discuss.

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Politics and Electoral Systems – Questions

“Recent general election results have shown the need for electoral reform.” Discuss.

Whether or not you think there is a need for electoral reform depends on your political view.  For instance if you follow the Liberal Democrats then you would certainly agree that there is need for electoral form.  However if you were a Conservative supporter you would not agree with that viewpoint as they had an advantage under FPP (First past the post) for a majority of the 20th century.  Labour are doing very well out of FPP at the moment and it looks like we may be in a Labour hegemony so they would to disagree with the statement above.  Ultimately the need for electoral form depends on your situation in the ‘House of Commons.’

One of the greatest flaws with FPP is that is very unfair to the third party, in this case the Liberal Democrats.  In 1983 the Alliance got 25% of the vote and only 4% of the seats.  That’s 23 seats out of a possible 659 on 25% of the vote.  Whereas Labour got only 2% more in votes but 209 seats.  The Times said that it was the “most unfair election of all time.”  Charles Kennedy (Leader of the Liberal Democrats) said, “The Labour Party’s manifesto commitment makes clear that the case and the cause of constitutional reform, particularly fair votes, proceeds.”  This clearly shows that the Liberal Democrats are for the idea for electoral reform.  FPP is disproportional in translating number of votes into seats (1983).  In 1951 48.8% voted for Labour (more than ever) yet they lost to Conservatives 40% of the vote.  Labour got 277 seats where as Conservatives got 345 seats.  Lord Jenkins points out that FPP has marginalised the Liberal Democrats.  

FPP produces stable majority governments, exception of February ‘74 when Labour formed a minority government known as a ‘hung parliament.’  There are 659 constituencies each sending one candidate to parliament.  The people of that constituency vote for each candidate.  A government is formed when a party has a majority of one, meaning more seats than all the other parties put together.  Therefore producing a majority government, giving political stability.  FPP produces strong single party government, for example the Conservatives were in power for a majority of the 20th century.  Although supporters of FPP say that it produces ‘stable’ governments, but how stable is a government, which changes policies to its predecessors.  For example the steel industry was nationalised, denationalised, re-nationalised then privatised.

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The public as a whole shows no great demand for a referendum to be given about electoral reform.  This may be because there really is no demand, or that people don’t know what the alternative is to the current system.   FPP is easy to understand, but so are the Alternative Vote (AV) and the Supplementary Vote (SV).

Under FPP parties produce a manifesto, (a rough guide to what they wish to carry out during government).  The manifesto will try to appeal to everyone from all walks of life.  The party can claim a mandate to the people ...

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