Winner Takes All

By Andy Baxter （amended by Jon Porter）

Imagine a horse race. At the end of the race there is a stick in the ground. The first horse past this finishing post is the winner. This system—‘first past the post is how most people describe the system of voting that we use in the United Kingdom. But many people think that the system is unfair.

What about the losers？

In a horse race， the horse that comes second gets a prize， even if its a smaller one. In UK politics， if you come second， you get nothing. Currently the UK is divided into over 600 areas or ‘constituencies， and every constituency has one representative or Member of Parliament （MP）. In an election， the voters vote for representatives—‘candidates—from many parties.

Imagine this situation：

A constituency has 50，000 voters. 25，001 vote for Party A， and 24，099 vote for Party B. Party A is the winner—it is the first past the post. All the votes for Party B are ‘wasted， even though they only have two votes fewer than Party A. Is this fair？

Imagine now that there are three parties in the constituency： Party A gets 20，000 votes， Party B gets 18，000 votes， and Party C gets 12，000 votes.

Party A is still the first past the post. The winner takes all. But if you add Party B and Party C together， they have 30，000 votes！ Thats more than Party A. In fact， more people voted against Party A than voted for it. Surely this cant be democratic？

Many people think that we should use these ‘wasted votes. They say if Party A gets 40 per cent of the votes， it should have 40 per cent of the places in Parliament. And Party B and C should have the remaining 36 per cent and 24 per cent. You should get the same percentage—or ‘proportion—of seats as people who vote for you. This principle is called ‘proportional representation. Then， if Party A wants to change a law or tax， and Parties B and C disagree， they can vote together and defeat the government on that particular policy.

The 2010 election was interesting. No party had enough votes for an outright majority， so the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats， not obvious bedfellows， ‘united to reach the stipulated number of votes for a majority win， resulting in a coalition government until 2015， when the Conservatives won outright.

An Alternative Solution？

Now Britain is thinking about introducing a form of Alternative Vote. The voting paper will still list the names of the people from each party. However， instead of putting an ‘X next to one of them， you write numbers： 1 for your favourite candidate， 2 for your next favourite， 3 for the next， and so on.

MPs only get elected if they have more than 50 per cent of the votes. So， if a candidate gets over 50 per cent of the total votes， they become MP. But suppose they only get 40 per cent？ Well， the candidate who got the fewest votes is eliminated， and their No. 2 votes are added to all the other candidates. If no one has over 50 per cent again， they repeat the process， until someone has over 50 per cent.

This system makes sure the winner has a majority， and allows people to vote for a person they like. It offers half a solution. But its still not proportional representation.

What next？

Supporters of the main parties have said for many years that ‘first past the post is the best—and most stable—system. They say other systems wouldnt work for the UK. Which is strange. Because when the UK votes for its MEPs （Members of the European Union Parliament）， the country divides itself into nine English constituencies， plus Scotland， Wales， and Northern Ireland， and votes for parties using various forms of proportional representation！

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Factfile

☆ There are 650 Members of Parliament （MPs） in the UK.

☆ The three main political parties are the Conservative Party， the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party.

☆ Members of Parliament are elected for up to five years.

☆ The leader of the party with the most ‘seats in Parliament is called the Prime Minister.

Answers

Activity 1

1 T 2 F 3 T 4 F 5 T 6 T

1 twenty thousand 2 forty-nine per cent 3 six hundred and fifty 4 twenty-five thousand and one 5 twenty-four thousand and ninety-nine 6 eighteen thousand? ? ? ? ?7 twelve thousand 8 fifty thousand

Activity 3

1 c 2 b 3 b

Activity 1

Decide if the sentences are true （T） or false （F）.

In the UK …

1 The candidate who gets the most votes becomes an MP.

2 There are three political parties.

3 In the current voting system， you write an ‘X on a voting paper.

4 In the Alternative Voting system， you can win with 49 per cent of the vote.

5 We use proportional representation some-times.

6 There are twelve constituencies for EU elections.

Activity 2

Write the following numbers in words—as you would say them in UK English.

1 20，000 _______________________

2 49%? ?________________________

3 650? ?_________________________

4 25，001? _______________________

5 24，099? _______________________

6 18，000? _______________________

7 12，000? _______________________

8 50，000? _______________________

Activity 3

Look at these sentences from the text. Decide which word the underlined pronoun refers to.

1 ‘In a horse race， the horse that comes second gets a prize， even if its a smaller one.

‘it refers to：

a a horse race

b a horse c a prize

2 ‘All the votes for Party B are “wasted”， even though they only have two votes fewer than Party A.

‘they refers to：

a the votes

b Party B c Party A

3 ‘The voting paper will still list the names of the people from each party. However， instead of putting an ‘X next to one of them ….

‘them refers to：

a the voting papers

b the names of the people

c the parties