First Post The Past Electoral System
The Script
Slide 2:
First Past The Post (FPTP), also known as Simple majority voting or Plurality voting . It is used in the UK to elect MPs to the House of Commons and also used in Canada, the USA and some other countries.
It is worth noting that in a General Election under FPTP, no one votes directly for a Party, a Prime Minister or a Government. You can only cast a vote for an individual candidate to be elected as an MP. Voting directly for the party is a feature of PR systems such as MMP/AMS, List PR and DPR Voting.
Slide 3:
How does First Past The Post work?
Under First Past The Post (FPTP) voting takes place in single-member constituencies. Voters put a cross in a box next to their favoured candidate and the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. All other votes count for nothing.
In a ‘normal’ British national election or by-election (i.e. excluding the newer formats that have been used in recent regional elections for devolution), those who wish to fight an election register to do so. When the election takes place, for example a by-election for a constituency MP for Westminster, the person who wins the highest number of votes within that constituency, wins that election. FPTP is as clear and as brutal as that. Only in the very rarest of cases has a re-count been ordered due to the closeness of that specific result, but in the vast majority of cases, FPTP allows for a clear winner.
Slide 4:
Example: by-election for the constituency. The three main candidates are from the three most prominent national parties. The result is as follows:
Candidate A (Labour): 22,000 votes
Candidate B (Tory): 17,000 votes
Candidate C (Lib Dems): 13,000 votes
In this example, the clear winner is candidate A with a majority over Candidate B of 5,000. FPTP is a cheap and simple way to hold an election, as each voter only has to place one cross on the ballot paper. Counting of the ballot papers is usually fast and the result of a
Slide 2:
First Past The Post (FPTP), also known as Simple majority voting or Plurality voting . It is used in the UK to elect MPs to the House of Commons and also used in Canada, the USA and some other countries.
It is worth noting that in a General Election under FPTP, no one votes directly for a Party, a Prime Minister or a Government. You can only cast a vote for an individual candidate to be elected as an MP. Voting directly for the party is a feature of PR systems such as MMP/AMS, List PR and DPR Voting.
Slide 3:
How does First Past The Post work?
Under First Past The Post (FPTP) voting takes place in single-member constituencies. Voters put a cross in a box next to their favoured candidate and the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. All other votes count for nothing.
In a ‘normal’ British national election or by-election (i.e. excluding the newer formats that have been used in recent regional elections for devolution), those who wish to fight an election register to do so. When the election takes place, for example a by-election for a constituency MP for Westminster, the person who wins the highest number of votes within that constituency, wins that election. FPTP is as clear and as brutal as that. Only in the very rarest of cases has a re-count been ordered due to the closeness of that specific result, but in the vast majority of cases, FPTP allows for a clear winner.
Slide 4:
Example: by-election for the constituency. The three main candidates are from the three most prominent national parties. The result is as follows:
Candidate A (Labour): 22,000 votes
Candidate B (Tory): 17,000 votes
Candidate C (Lib Dems): 13,000 votes
In this example, the clear winner is candidate A with a majority over Candidate B of 5,000. FPTP is a cheap and simple way to hold an election, as each voter only has to place one cross on the ballot paper. Counting of the ballot papers is usually fast and the result of a