Electoral choice - FOR - FPTP structures electoral choice by offering voters a clear and simple choice between potential parties of governments, Electoral choice - AGAINST - FPTP offers voters an artificially narrow choice of parties/candidates, in that votes for them appear to be ‘wasted’ – small parties are not ‘electable’, Party representation - FOR - Extremism is kept at bay because it is more difficult for small, radical parties to gain representation and thus respectability, Party representation - AGAINST - The over-representation of large parties and parties with geographically concentrated support, at the expense of small parties and parties with evenly spread support, is systematically unfair and unjustifiable, Constituency representation - FOR - MPs have a strong constituency role because they have a clear responsibility to take up constituents interests and grievances – one MP serves one constituency, Constituency representation - AGAINST - In ‘safe’ seats there is no guarantee that MPs will be good constituency representatives, and they may be unsympathetic to particular causes or concerns, Mandates - FOR - The winning party can claim a popular mandate to carry out its policies because the largest body of voters have endorsed its manifesto commitments, Mandates - AGAINST - The winning party cannot claim a popular mandate as it (usually) wins less than 50% of the vote - more voters vote against it than for it, Strong government - FOR - Single-party majority governments are strong and effective because they can (usually) ensure that their legislative programmes are enacted – governments can govern, Strong government - AGAINST - Government (the executive) is over-strong in that it is able to dominate the House of Commons and so render Parliament ineffective (‘elective dictatorship’), Stable government - FOR - Single-party governments are stable and cohesive, rarely collapsing as a result of disunity and friction (coalition governments are inherently fractured and unstable), Stable government - AGAINST - The transfer of power from one single-party government to another may result in destabilising shifts in government policy, damaging, in particular, economic prospects,

Week 16 POL - 'First past the post' - For and against

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