The first past the post electoral system does more harm than good. Discuss.
The first past the post electoral system does more harm than good. Discuss.
First-past-the-post (abbreviated to FPTP or FPP) is a simple plurality electoral system that is used to elect all 650 MPs representing each constituency in the UK at the House of Commons and local authorities in England as is also the method US presidents and legislators are elected. It is founded upon OP-OV-OV – One person, One Vote and One Value system.
Each party select their candidate for the election and the elector has only one vote and simply places an X on a ballot paper against his/her preferred candidate that they wish to represent them. The winning candidate only needs to achieve a plurality of votes not the majority (plurality is the largest number of the group of numbers not the overall majority). Also in the case of the House of Commons whether a candidate wins by one or 14,000 votes the party gains a seat. There are no prizes for coming second in first-past-the-post.
In past years that proposition for electoral reform on our electoral system had gone unheeded ,first-past-the-post has been going unquestioned for a long period of time but in the most recent of general election in 2010 the Liberal Democrats are participating in government, because the first- past-the-post system gave to them a position where they held the balance of power in a hung parliament, also under first-past-the-post the Liberal democrats seem to be fairing the worst as for example in the 2010 general election the Conservative Party received 36.5% of the votes cast and obtained 47.2% of the seats in the House of Commons. The Labour Party received 29% of the votes cast but obtained 39.7% of the seats in the Commons. The biggest un-achievers from the first-past-the-post system (and in most other general elections in the last 80ish or so years) were the Liberal Democrats who received 23% of the vote however only succeeded in obtaining 8.8% of the seats in the Commons.
The advantages of
First-past-the-post (abbreviated to FPTP or FPP) is a simple plurality electoral system that is used to elect all 650 MPs representing each constituency in the UK at the House of Commons and local authorities in England as is also the method US presidents and legislators are elected. It is founded upon OP-OV-OV – One person, One Vote and One Value system.
Each party select their candidate for the election and the elector has only one vote and simply places an X on a ballot paper against his/her preferred candidate that they wish to represent them. The winning candidate only needs to achieve a plurality of votes not the majority (plurality is the largest number of the group of numbers not the overall majority). Also in the case of the House of Commons whether a candidate wins by one or 14,000 votes the party gains a seat. There are no prizes for coming second in first-past-the-post.
In past years that proposition for electoral reform on our electoral system had gone unheeded ,first-past-the-post has been going unquestioned for a long period of time but in the most recent of general election in 2010 the Liberal Democrats are participating in government, because the first- past-the-post system gave to them a position where they held the balance of power in a hung parliament, also under first-past-the-post the Liberal democrats seem to be fairing the worst as for example in the 2010 general election the Conservative Party received 36.5% of the votes cast and obtained 47.2% of the seats in the House of Commons. The Labour Party received 29% of the votes cast but obtained 39.7% of the seats in the Commons. The biggest un-achievers from the first-past-the-post system (and in most other general elections in the last 80ish or so years) were the Liberal Democrats who received 23% of the vote however only succeeded in obtaining 8.8% of the seats in the Commons.
The advantages of