Voting system

First Past the Post (FPTP)  ‘First past the post' is a simple way of electing a single winner, for example, in an individual constituency. It can also be used in multiple member constituency elections. In a single member election the candidate with the highest number, not necessarily a majority, of votes is elected.  When this method is used to elect MPs to parliament, and thereby elect a Government, the number of MPs elected for each party is unlikely to be proportionate to the number of votes cast nationwide for the different parties. Small parties with thinly spread support may have proportionately fewer MPs elected. Conversely a small party with tightly concentrated support may have proportionately more MPs elected. It is possible for party A to have fewer votes than party B but still have more MPs, and thus be able to form the Government.  FPTP is used in the UK, Canada, and eleswhere. It favours and works best with a two political party system.  Proportional Representation Systems  In PR systems such as PR List , AMS / MMP, or DPR Voting, voters cast a vote directly for a party. The votes for each party can be added up to give a total across the country, or across regions. This determines by simple proportionality how many votes each parliamentary party has in the parliament. For the prospective voter, every vote counts.  Each PR system then has different ways of determining who should be the representatives of the people in the parliament.  ' Pure' PR (PR List)  In Closed List PR, the party vote determines by simple proportionality how many votes each parliamentary party has in the parliament. There is no separate ballot for the individual candidates. The Representatives, the members of the parliamentary party are 'elected' from a list of party candidates. The numbers elected are proportional to the party vote and in strict order according to the predetermined party list. The voter has no say in which individuals of each party are elected.  Hybrid PR Systems (Systems that combine PR with FPTP) In Hybrid PR systems such as MMP (Mixed Member Proportional), AMS (Additional Member System), and DPR (Direct Party and Representative Voting), voters have two votes, one for the party and one to elect a constituency MP. The party vote largely decides the total number of votes each parliamentary party gets in Parliament. The second vote is to choose the MP the voter wants to represent the electorate they live in. The members of the parliamentary party are elected wholly or partly by the second vote.

Single Transferable Vote (STV) The single transferable vote (STV) gives the voter a choice of candidates in a multi-member constituency. This usually includes a choice of candidates with the same party allegiance. It is a preferential voting system so the voter ranks the candidates on the ballot paper in order of preference. The voter cannot vote directly for a party.  STV is a voting system designed to achieve a (more or less) proportional result. There are variations of the system. To achieve proportionality the system requires constituencies to be organised as multi member constituencies (MMCs) . In a 4 or 5 member MMC, with 5 or 6 parties competing, the total number of candidates on ballot paper may be quite large. In practical terms it is relatively demanding to ask the voter to express a reasoned preferential choice when there may be more than ten candidates on the ballot paper. Counting is also complex. Each vote is initially allocated to the voter's preferred candidate. Depending on the number of electors and the number of candidates, each candidate needs a minimum number of votes to be elected. Counting is done in stages. A candidate is eliminated at each stage. When a candidate is eliminated, or has enough votes to be elected, surplus votes are transferred to the remaining candidates. There are different methods of doing this.  While not a strictly proportional electoral system, results may be broadly proportional, although this does depend on the interplay between the numbers of parties competing in the election and the size of the multi-member constituencies.  Multi-member constituencies work best in areas of high population density, and worst in sparsely populated rural areas where geographically the constituency may be very large. Setting the size (number of MPs elected) and geographical boundaries of MMCs can be contentious since there may be a perceived party advantage, and thus scope for gerrymandering.  The system can produce 'unexpected and distorting outcomes'  STV is used in Ireland, Australia , and elsewhere.  STV seems well suited to UK local district council elections in the UK because many district wards are already organised as multi-member wards. The FPTP system tends to give all the seats to one party eg in a 3 member ward the result is more likely to be 3-0 than 2-1

Additional Member System (Mixed Member Proportional) Additional Member System - AMS (see also Mixed Member Proportional - MMP) is a voting system designed to achieve a (close to) proportional result. To achieve proportionality there are two ways members can be elected – by election as a constituency MP and by election from a party list. In most models the voter casts two votes: one for a constituency representative and one for a party. The constituency MPs are elected by FPTP within their constituency. The party vote is used to elect Additional Members from the party list in order to achieve a proportional result. In AMS using the party vote is not necessarily simple or intuitive. In MMP, but not AMS, if a party wins more constituency seats than justified by its proportion of the total vote, the size of the Parliament is increased so that the overall outcome is proportional to the votes, with other parties receiving additional list seats (Overhang). For this reason AMS is not a fully proportional system. In MMP, but not AMS, to qualify for additional members from the party list, a party must exceed a predetermined threshold of votes - 5% in Germany. AMS /MMP is used in Germany (MMP), Scotland(AMS), Wales (AMS) and elsewhere See the main differences between MMP and DPR Voting Party List Proportional Representation Party-list proportional representation is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation (PR) In a closed party list system, voters vote directly for the party. Parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats get allocated to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives. The larger the size of the constituency, the more proportional the result. There are variations based on this system. Party Lists are used in Israel, Italy and elsewhere. UK Members of the European Parliament are elected by a closed list system with regional constituencies. A criticism of Party list PR is that the MPs are not elected directly in a constituency contest. Rather they are appointed by virtue of being on the Party List of candidates. The Party draws up the Party list of candidates. The candidate at the top of the list is elected first. Therefore whereabouts on the list is critical to the candidates' chance of being elected. MPs owe their election to the Party rather than the voters, and this gives the Party considerable power over its MPs. Similarly there are no Constituency MPs, and therefore the system does not provide a close link between an MP and their constituents.

The Alternative Vote (AV)The Alternative Vote also known as Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a preferential voting system used to elect a single winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference. Counting is in stages. Votes for the first choice candidate are counted as one vote. If a candidate gets over 50% of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. The second preferences of the eliminated candidate are counted and added to the candidates remaining on the ballot. This process is repeated until a candidate receives over 50% of the votes, or has more votes than the only remaining candidate.  AV is used in Australia and elsewhere. It is often to elect leaders of groups, and Mayors.  As a system for electing single winners such as Mayors or Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Supplementary Vote (SV)The Supplementary Vote is used to elect a single winner. Voters mark their first choice and (if they wish) a second preference. All the first choice votes are counted. If no candidate receives over 50%, the top two candidates continue and all other candidates are eliminated. The second preferences from the eliminated votes are then counted and added to the first round totals. The candidate with the most votes is declared the winner.  SV is used for Police and Crime Commissioners and directly elected English mayors such as the Mayor of London. The Supplementary Vote (SV) is a shortened version of the Alternative Vote (AV).  This system strongly favors the two largest parties and can result in the election of a candidate who wins fewer first and second preferences than one of the eliminated candidates would have done.