Additional Member System
Encyclopedia
The Additional Member System (AMS) is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation
voting system
used in Scotland
, Wales
and the London Assembly
.
Also, AMS as a generic term could refer to either the mixed member proportional representation
system or the parallel voting
system, a semi-proportional
voting system
. In both cases, some representatives are elected from single-winner geographic constituencies and others are elected under proportional representation
from a wider area, usually by party lists
. Voters usually have two votes, one for the party and the second for the candidate in a constituency, even if sometimes these votes are combined. The constituency representatives are generally elected under the first-past-the-post
voting system. The party representatives are elected by a party vote, where the electors vote for a political party, and usually not directly for an individual. The particular individuals selected come from lists drawn up by the political parties before the election, at a national or regional level. Basic technical and political differences intervene between these two systems.
have a threshold of 5% which has at times denied seats to the Christian People's Alliance (in the 2000 election
), the British National Party
and Respect – The Unity Coalition (both in the 2004 election
). Under the AMS used in Italy
from 1993 to 2005, a threshold of 4% was needed to receive proportional seats.
.
For instance in the Italian general election, 2001
, one of the two main coalitions (the House of Freedoms
, which opposed the MMP system), linked many of their constituency candidates to a decoy list (liste civetta) in the proportional parts, under the name Abolizione Scorporo. As a defensive move, the other coalition, Olive Tree
, felt obliged to do the same, under the name Paese Nuovo. The constituency seats won by each coalition would not reduce the number of proportional seats they received. Between them, the two decoy lists won 360 of the 475 constituency seats, more than half of the total of 630 seats available, despite winning a combined total of less than 0.2% of the national proportional part of the vote. In the case of Forza Italia
(part of the House of Freedoms), the tactic was so successful that it did not have enough candidates in the proportional part to receive as many seats as it in fact won, missing out on 12 seats.
Decoy lists are not used in Scotland, Wales, or most other places using AMS, where most voters vote for candidates from parties with long-standing names. In the run up to the 2007 Scottish election, the Labour party had considered not fielding list candidates in the Glasgow
, West of Scotland
, and Central Scotland
regions, as their constituency strength in the previous two elections had resulted in no list MSPs; instead they proposed to support a list composed of Co-Operative Party
candidates; previously the Co-Operative party had chosen not to field candidates of its own but merely to endorse particular Labour candidates. However the Scottish Electoral Commission ruled that as membership of the Co-Op party is dependent on membership of the Labour party they could not be considered distinct legal entites. In contrast, in the 2007 Welsh Assembly Election
, Forward Wales had its candidates (including sitting leader John Marek) stand as independents, to attempt to gain list seats they would not be entitled to if Forward Wales candidates were elected to constituencies in the given region. However the ruse failed: Marek lost his seat in Wrexham
and Forward Wales failed to qualify for any top-up seats.
Decoy lists would be technically useless in most mixed-member proportional voting
models: there, because the proportional party vote is the sole to determine the final political result of the election, overhang seat
s would automatically compensate any effect of eventual decoy lists.
recommended that AMS in a form different from the German be used for UK parliamentary elections, but instead of using closed party lists, it proposed that seats be filled by the 'best runner-up' basis used by the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, where the compensatory seats are filled by the party's defeated candidates who were the 'best near-winner' in each of the state's four regions. The system eventually adopted without that provision for elections to the Scottish Parliament
, Welsh Assembly and London Assembly
, but not for elections to the House of Commons.
A similar system was proposed by the Independent Commission
in 1999, known as Alternative vote top-up
(AV+). This would have involved the use of the Alternative Vote for electing members from single-member constituencies, and regional open party lists. However, contrary to the Labour Party
's earlier manifesto promises, no referendum was held before the 2001 general election
and the statement was not repeated.
The AMS system in use in the London Assembly would have been used for the other proposed regional assemblies
of England, but this process has stalled since the No vote in the Northern England referendums in 2004.
In the parallel systems, even the largest party will elect members from the party list, so the top list positions are guaranteed seats. This system is found in emerging democracies like post-communist Russia, where new national parties were evolving, and the voting system was intended to foster them, while allowing local independent members to win local seats, many of whom then joined the winning party. It retains the plurality principle but has another paper to allow voting for a party rather than a candidate.
found references to first and second votes fuelled a misperception that the constituency vote should be a first preference and the regional vote a second one. That misperception was not helped by the Green Party's tactic of running only regional candidates and appealing for "second votes."
In Scotland, to deal with the misunderstanding between "first" and "second" votes, the ballot for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election was changed as recommended by the Arbuthnott Commission. The British government announced on 22 November 2006 that the two separate ballot papers used in the previous Scottish Parliament elections would be replaced for the elections in May 2007 by a single paper — with the left side listing the parties standing for election as regional MSPs and the right side the candidates standing as constituency MSPs.
However, the detailed results of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2003 (shown in the table above) show the confusion was about "first" and "second" votes, creating an average of 28% wrong answers.
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
voting system
Voting system
A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
used in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and the London Assembly
London Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
.
Also, AMS as a generic term could refer to either the mixed member proportional representation
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
system or the parallel voting
Parallel voting
Parallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
system, a semi-proportional
Semi-proportional representation
A Semi-proportional voting system is a multi-winner voting system whose proportionality lies between that of majoritarian systems like bloc voting and fully proportional methods like the Sainte-Laguë method or STV....
voting system
Voting system
A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
. In both cases, some representatives are elected from single-winner geographic constituencies and others are elected under proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
from a wider area, usually by party lists
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
. Voters usually have two votes, one for the party and the second for the candidate in a constituency, even if sometimes these votes are combined. The constituency representatives are generally elected under the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
voting system. The party representatives are elected by a party vote, where the electors vote for a political party, and usually not directly for an individual. The particular individuals selected come from lists drawn up by the political parties before the election, at a national or regional level. Basic technical and political differences intervene between these two systems.
- Under the mixed member proportional representationMixed member proportional representationMixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
(MMP) or Top-Up (compensatory) system, the aim is either for the party's total number of representatives, including constituency representatives, to be proportional to its percentage of the party vote, or for the allocation of additional party seats to offset all or most of the disproportionate result in the constituencies. The party vote determines the proportional number of representatives the party has in the assembly, so creating a proportional representationProportional representationProportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
, differently from the semi-proportional parallel votingParallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
. - Under a parallel votingParallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
or Supplementary Member (SUP or SM) system, the party seats are allocated proportionally within themselves, without consideration of any constituency seats the party may have won. Under some points of view, the SUP is not an electoral method, but two systems run in parallel for simultaneous, separate elections. However, differently from the Mixed member proportional representationMixed member proportional representationMixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
, the proportional division of the seats between the contesting parties is calculated upon the party-list seats only, and not upon all seats.
Calculation methods
At the regional or national level (i.e. above the constituency level) several different calculation methods have been used:- In the Welsh model of AMS, the regional seats are divided using a D'Hondt methodD'Hondt methodThe d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
. However, the number of seats already won in the local constituencies is taken into account in the calculations for the list seats, and the first average taken in account for each party follows the number of FPTP seats won. Similar system are used in ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - In the Italian model of AMS, used 1993-2005, for every constituency seat won by a party, that party's vote total was reduced by the number of votes received by the second-place candidate in the constituency, subject to the condition that the deduction cannot be less than either 25% of the total votes cast in the constituency, or the votes received by the winning candidate, whichever is less.
Threshold
As in many systems containing or based upon party-list representation, in order to be eligible for list seats in some AMS models, a party must earn at least a certain percentage of the total party vote, or no candidates will be elected from the party list. Candidates having won a constituency will still have won their seat. In almost all elections in the UK there are no thresholds except the "effective threshold" inherent in the regional structure. However the elections for the London AssemblyLondon Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
have a threshold of 5% which has at times denied seats to the Christian People's Alliance (in the 2000 election
London Assembly election, 2000
The first elections for members of the London Assembly were held on 4 May 2000, alongside the first mayoral election.The assembly elections used the Mixed member proportional representation, a form of Additional member system, with 14 directly elected constituencies and 11 London-wide top-up...
), the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
and Respect – The Unity Coalition (both in the 2004 election
London Assembly election, 2004
An election to the Assembly of London took place on 10 June 2004, along with the London mayoral election, 2004.The Assembly is elected by the Additional Member System. There are fourteen directly elected constituencies, nine of which were won by the Conservatives and five by the Labour Party...
). Under the AMS used in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from 1993 to 2005, a threshold of 4% was needed to receive proportional seats.
Decoy lists
So-called "decoy lists" are a trick to unhinge the compensation mechanisms contained into the proportional part of the AMS, so to de facto establish a parallel votingParallel voting
Parallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
.
For instance in the Italian general election, 2001
Italian general election, 2001
A national general election was held in Italy on May 13, 2001 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic. The 14th Parliament of the Italian republic was chosen....
, one of the two main coalitions (the House of Freedoms
House of Freedoms
The House of Freedoms , was a major Italian centre-right political and electoral alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi. It was initially composed of several political parties:*Forza Italia *National Alliance...
, which opposed the MMP system), linked many of their constituency candidates to a decoy list (liste civetta) in the proportional parts, under the name Abolizione Scorporo. As a defensive move, the other coalition, Olive Tree
Olive Tree
The Olive Tree was a denomination used for several successive centre-left Italian political coalitions from 1995 to 2007.The historical leader and ideologue of these coalitions was Romano Prodi, Professor of Economics and former leftist Christian Democrat, who invented the name and the symbol of...
, felt obliged to do the same, under the name Paese Nuovo. The constituency seats won by each coalition would not reduce the number of proportional seats they received. Between them, the two decoy lists won 360 of the 475 constituency seats, more than half of the total of 630 seats available, despite winning a combined total of less than 0.2% of the national proportional part of the vote. In the case of Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
(part of the House of Freedoms), the tactic was so successful that it did not have enough candidates in the proportional part to receive as many seats as it in fact won, missing out on 12 seats.
Decoy lists are not used in Scotland, Wales, or most other places using AMS, where most voters vote for candidates from parties with long-standing names. In the run up to the 2007 Scottish election, the Labour party had considered not fielding list candidates in the Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, West of Scotland
West of Scotland
West of Scotland may refer to:*West of Scotland, an electoral region of the Scottish Parliament*Informally, an area comprising Argyll, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Renfrewshire*West of Scotland Football Club*West of Scotland Cricket Club...
, and Central Scotland
Central Scotland
Central Scotland may refer to:* Central Belt, the area of highest population density in Scotland, also known as the "Midlands" or "Scottish Midlands"* Central Lowlands, a geologically-defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland...
regions, as their constituency strength in the previous two elections had resulted in no list MSPs; instead they proposed to support a list composed of Co-Operative Party
Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom committed to supporting and representing co-operative principles. The party does not put up separate candidates for any UK election itself. Instead, Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as "Labour...
candidates; previously the Co-Operative party had chosen not to field candidates of its own but merely to endorse particular Labour candidates. However the Scottish Electoral Commission ruled that as membership of the Co-Op party is dependent on membership of the Labour party they could not be considered distinct legal entites. In contrast, in the 2007 Welsh Assembly Election
National Assembly for Wales election, 2007
The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...
, Forward Wales had its candidates (including sitting leader John Marek) stand as independents, to attempt to gain list seats they would not be entitled to if Forward Wales candidates were elected to constituencies in the given region. However the ruse failed: Marek lost his seat in Wrexham
Wrexham (National Assembly for Wales constituency)
Wrexham is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the North Wales electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to nine constituency...
and Forward Wales failed to qualify for any top-up seats.
Decoy lists would be technically useless in most mixed-member proportional voting
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
models: there, because the proportional party vote is the sole to determine the final political result of the election, overhang seat
Overhang seat
Overhang seats can arise in elections under the traditional mixed member proportional system, when a party is entitled to fewer seats as a result of party votes than it has won constituencies.-How overhang seats arise:...
s would automatically compensate any effect of eventual decoy lists.
Use
- Unicameral regional elections in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
:- ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
: the Scottish ParliamentScottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament... - WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
: the National Assembly for WalesNational Assembly for WalesThe National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs... - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: the London AssemblyLondon AssemblyThe London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
- Scotland
- Unicameral general elections in HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
:- the National AssemblyNational Assembly of HungaryThe National Assembly or Diet is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 386 members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is based on a complex system involving both area and list election; parties must win at least 5% of the popular vote in order to enter list members...
- the National Assembly
- Other countries using MMP; see mixed member proportional representationMixed member proportional representationMixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
.
Former use
- From 1993 to 2005 in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
:- the Chamber of DeputiesItalian Chamber of DeputiesThe Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
, even if decoy lists changed de facto the electoral system into a pure parallel votingParallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other... - the Italian SenateItalian SenateThe Senate of the Republic is the upper house of the Italian Parliament. It was established in its current form on 8 May 1948, but previously existed during the Kingdom of Italy as Senato del Regno , itself a continuation of the Senato Subalpino of Sardinia-Piedmont established on 8 May 1848...
, with a particular single-vote variant: proportional representation was automatically calculated upon all losers in the FPTPFirst-past-the-postFirst-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
races, and candidates with best percentages were elected
- the Chamber of Deputies
Proposed use
In 1976, the Hansard SocietyHansard Society
The Hansard Society was formed in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy. Founded and chaired by Commander Stephen King-Hall, the first subscribers were Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee...
recommended that AMS in a form different from the German be used for UK parliamentary elections, but instead of using closed party lists, it proposed that seats be filled by the 'best runner-up' basis used by the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, where the compensatory seats are filled by the party's defeated candidates who were the 'best near-winner' in each of the state's four regions. The system eventually adopted without that provision for elections to the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, Welsh Assembly and London Assembly
London Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
, but not for elections to the House of Commons.
A similar system was proposed by the Independent Commission
Jenkins Commission (UK)
The Independent Commission on the Voting System, popularly known as the Jenkins Commission after its chairman Roy Jenkins, was a commission into possible reform of the United Kingdom electoral system.-The commission:...
in 1999, known as Alternative vote top-up
Alternative Vote Top-up
The Alternative Vote Plus , or Alternative Vote Top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was invented by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.As the name suggests, AV+ is an additional...
(AV+). This would have involved the use of the Alternative Vote for electing members from single-member constituencies, and regional open party lists. However, contrary to the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
's earlier manifesto promises, no referendum was held before the 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
and the statement was not repeated.
The AMS system in use in the London Assembly would have been used for the other proposed regional assemblies
Regional Assemblies in England
The Regional Assemblies of England were a group of indirectly elected regional bodies established originally under the name Regional Chambers by the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. They were abolished on 31 March 2010 and replaced by Local Authority Leaders’ Boards...
of England, but this process has stalled since the No vote in the Northern England referendums in 2004.
Criticisms
Since smaller parties are likely, in compensatory systems, to win a larger number of proportional seats, such additional member systems hand additional political power to the leaders of these parties at the expense of regional directly elected representatives, unless the additional members are elected on an open regional list or a closed regional list as in Scotland and Wales. With closed lists, party-list candidates may become puppets for the party leadership, or may add diversity to the party's elected members. The largest party in an election is likely to win a smaller number of proportional seats, so that governing parties may lose diversity, unless the members elected from the party list when it was in opposition then win local seats when the party gains enough support to form the government.In the parallel systems, even the largest party will elect members from the party list, so the top list positions are guaranteed seats. This system is found in emerging democracies like post-communist Russia, where new national parties were evolving, and the voting system was intended to foster them, while allowing local independent members to win local seats, many of whom then joined the winning party. It retains the plurality principle but has another paper to allow voting for a party rather than a candidate.
Voter understanding
Some writers argue that AMS is difficult for voters to understand, and thus disenfranchises the very people it is meant to empower. There is some evidence that many Scottish voters did not understand the implications of the system at first. In the first election for Scotland's new Parliament, the majority of voters surveyed misunderstood some key aspects of the difference there between the "first" (constituency) vote and the "second" (regional list) vote; indeed in some ways the understanding worsened in the second election. The Arbuthnott CommissionArbuthnott Commission
The Arbuthnott Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems was set up in July 2004 by Alistair Darling, then Secretary of State for Scotland, under the chairmanship of Sir John Arbuthnott, to examine various consequences of having four different systems of voting in Scotland, and...
found references to first and second votes fuelled a misperception that the constituency vote should be a first preference and the regional vote a second one. That misperception was not helped by the Green Party's tactic of running only regional candidates and appealing for "second votes."
In Scotland, to deal with the misunderstanding between "first" and "second" votes, the ballot for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election was changed as recommended by the Arbuthnott Commission. The British government announced on 22 November 2006 that the two separate ballot papers used in the previous Scottish Parliament elections would be replaced for the elections in May 2007 by a single paper — with the left side listing the parties standing for election as regional MSPs and the right side the candidates standing as constituency MSPs.
| Scottish Parliament Election Study 1999 and Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2003 | % answering correctly | |
|---|---|---|
| Question (and correct response) | 1999 | 2003 |
| You are allowed to vote for the same party on the first and second vote (True) | 78% | 64% |
| People are given two votes so that they can show their first and second preferences (False) | 63% | 48% |
| No candidate who stands in a constituency contest can be elected as a regional party list member (False) | 43% | 33% |
| Regional party list seats are allocated to try to make sure each party has as fair a share of seats as is possible (True) | 31% | 24% ? |
| The number of seats won by each party is decided by the number of first votes they get (False) | 30% | 42% |
| Unless a party wins at least 5% of the second vote, it is unlikely to win any regional party lists seats (True) | 26% | 25% |
| Average | 45% | 39% |
However, the detailed results of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, 2003 (shown in the table above) show the confusion was about "first" and "second" votes, creating an average of 28% wrong answers.
See also
- List of democracy and election-related topics
- Semi-proportional representationSemi-proportional representationA Semi-proportional voting system is a multi-winner voting system whose proportionality lies between that of majoritarian systems like bloc voting and fully proportional methods like the Sainte-Laguë method or STV....
- AV+