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First Past The Post Voting System

            It is clear that the simple majority system has much to recommend it, however, since then there has been constant calls for electoral reform. It is equally clear that FPTP has its flaws. .
             Firstly it favours the major parties both labour and the conservatives have won a disproportionate amount of seats compared to their shares of votes. E.g. in the 2001 election, Labour won 412 seats which is 62.5% of the seats but only won 40.7% of the popular vote. Conversely if Labour were at an advantage in this election then some parties must have been disadvantaged. This is one of the largest criticisms of FPTP because smaller parties do not often win seats despite gaining a reasonable share of the vote. As in the 1997 election the protest/referendum party won 2.6% of the vote but no seats, whereas, under some PR systems this party would have received seats. It is not only small parties that suffer as Liberal Democrats in the 2001 election, won 18.3% of the vote and only 7.9% of the seats. .
             Since it favours the big parties it leaves little choice for the voters to vote e.g. in the 2001 elections many people did not vote as they were uninterested in the topics being discussed by the Conservatives such as the issue of Europe. Also as well as parties having widespread support they must also have regional support in order for them to win the majority of votes in a particular area and therefore gaining MP's elected. This means that bigger parties with larger regional support will benefit but smaller parties with widespread support across the country such as Liberal Democrats will be disadvantaged and loose out. Although they receive a lot of votes it is not enough in any constituency to get their candidate elected.
             Too many votes are wasted in FPTP This perhaps explains falling turnout; wasted votes can sometimes come in the form of all votes cast for defeated candidates. Conservative votes in inner city Glasgow or Labour voters in the home country's southeast England.


Essays Related to First Past The Post Voting System

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'The First Past the Post electoral system for elections to the House of Commons is in urgent need of reform'. Discuss The electoral system of the House of Commons has become a key issue in British party politics in recent decades. It has come to light that the First Past the Post voting system traditionally used in the 'Golden era' of a two party system is failing to achieve the objectives its defenders attribute it to. The 2010 general election produced the first hung ... parliament since 1974 which lead to the formation of a conservative- liberal democrat government which no one ...

  • Word Count: 1999
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3. Should the UK Voting System Be Reformed?

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4. Compulsory Voting in the UK

... a sharp decline. In 1992, 77.7% of the electorate voted, compared to just 65.1% in 2010, (Commission, 2013). As a result of the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system it is often the case that a majority of the population do not actually support the Government. Now for the first time, non-voters are the largest single group outnumbering those who supported the winning party and calling in to question the whole election process by their non-participation ... . 'The nature of the free vote is that, if parties want to ... ...

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