Voting Systems First-Past-The-Post Explained

This is the name given to the system used to decide which MPs will represent us in the UK Parliament First-Past-The-Post

Remember the UK is split into 650 constituencies. The people in each constituency get to vote for their MP. Therefore, we have 650 MPs in total.

All those entitled to vote get to choose the MP for their constituency.

Below is an example of a ballot paper for a specific constituency in England.

Using First-Past- The-Post you have only 1 vote. You put an X next to the candidate you want to win and represent you.

Using First-Past-The-Post, the candidate with the most votes will become the MP. NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50, Above are the results for the Falkirk constituency in the 2010 elections.

You can see that Eric Joyce got more votes than the others so he won! NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50, This majority is the difference in votes between the winning candidate and second place.

This process is repeated all over the UK until we have 650 MPs. They either represent a political party or are independent. NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50,

What’s good about F-P-T-P? It’s a really simple system. It’s easy for people to vote (just put an ‘X’ in the box) for the candidate you want to represent you.

‘The Count’ is really simple too and mistakes are less likely to happen. All they have to do is allocate the individual vote to a specific candidate.

You don’t have to wait a long time for the result to be declared. As the system is so simple, the winning candidates can often be declared within a few hours. You usually don’t have to wait until the next day which is the case with some voting systems.

You get to vote for a specific candidate who you know will represent you. In some voting systems, you don’t know who you are voting for – it may just be a part you are voting for. Is this fair?

However, there are criticisms of F-P-T-P What’s bad about First-Past-The- Post?

You can be elected with less than half the votes How fair is that? NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50,

Lots of votes are basically ignored. Roughly 27,000 votes went to people other than Eric Joyce. However, those ballot papers are ‘binned’. NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50,

Votes for smaller parties could be considered a waste of time because they have little chance of winning any constituencies. Unless they manage to win constituency (which means a seat in Parliament) they’ll have no chance of success. NamePartyVotes%+/- Eric JoyceLabour23, John McNallyScottish National Party15, Katie MackieConservative5, Kieran LeachLiberal Democrat5, Brian GoldieUK Independence Party1, Majority7, Turnout50,