Which electoral system, the USA or the UK more effectively allows the views of the people to be promoted?

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Alan Bottomley – LUFC – Alan Smith – England’s No.9. Paul Robinson – England’s No.1. Danny Mills – England’s No.2. Jonathon Woodgate – England’s No.5. Lee Bowyer – England’s No.11.  

Which electoral system, the USA or the UK more effectively allows the views of the people to be promoted

In American and in Britain the electoral systems have both seen change, even though Britains system has developed over a much longer period than that of its American counterpart. Both systems have seen the working class and women strive to get the vote and Americas system has seen, famously the fight of Negro’s to achieve the right to vote. In the present day it is fair to say that both countries offer a system which is fair to all people regardless of race, social background or sex.

In America the contest for President is a long and very complex process. In Britain this is not the case with the Prime Minister, the system being much “quicker” and “simpler”. Presidential primaries are the first form of public involvement in America, with each party’s candidate for president being chosen. This process alone takes months, with state primaries followed by the party conference and finally the presidential election. In Britain the process is much simpler, with the party’s candidate being chosen “in house” and the electorate voting for a party at election time, such as Labour or Conservative, in contrast to America where, for example a single candidate is chosen, such as George W. Bush or Al Gore. Depending on the type of presidential primary it is fair to say that peoples views are more represented in America, because not only do they get the chance to chose the different parties candidate for president they get to chose between the two parties final choices. They sometimes even have the choice of an independent candidate. In Britain the electorate has no real say in who is going to be the leader of the parties, who would have chosen IDS, however they still get the chance to vote on who will lead the country for 4 years. America gives its people more of a chance for its views to be promoted, with two chances to express their views.

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In recent years and decades both the American and British systems have experienced political apathy amongst its population. In America there are a very large number of elections taking place on a relatively regular bases and this has led to an lack of interest from Americas electorate, with only around 50% of eligible voters using this opportunity to influence the presidential election. In Britain this is a less of a problem although the trend of America seems to be creeping into the British system, with only around 60-70% of eligible voters using this opportunity at recent general elections. This has ...

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