SV

Question 1

How does SV work

Answer 1

1) voters vote for their 1st and 2nd choice
2) If no candidate receives over 50% in the first round then all but the top two are removed
3) 2nd preference votes are used to redistribute votes for the remaining candidates
4) When one of the remaining two candidates gets over 50%, they win

Question 2

Where is SV used

Answer 2

London mayor elections
Police and crime commissioners

Question 3

What is a strength of SV and an example of this?

Answer 3

• majority of voters get a preffered candidate
  —> more people preffered for Sadiq Khan to become London mayor than Saun Bailey —> 55% voted SK as 1st or 2nd choice

Question 4

What is a weakness of SV and an example of this?

Answer 4

• there are still wasted votes
  —> if you voted greens 1st round then libdems 2nd round then the vote is wasted because it hasnt been used because both parties were voted out in the first round

Question 5

What are some other strengths and weaknesses of SV?

Answer 5

• still elects one person but in a more democratically legitimate way
• simple to understand
• voters have greater opp. to express their support for more than one party
  BUT
• works at constituency level but leads to one large winning party
• entrench a two party system