【#Britain and Europe 英國及歐洲 國際日報】001
The U.K. Election Explained, in One Number
Votes for the Conservatives had 10 times the effective power of votes for the Liberal Democrats. Here’s how the electoral system works.
Party system に移動 - Political parties are the dominant organisations in the modern UK political system
A voting system determines the rules on how we elect parties and candidates. The House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Northern Ireland Assembly, European Parliament and UK local authorities use different ...
First-past-the-post
The House of Commons and local councils in England and Wales use the first-past-the-post system.
The UK is divided into constituencies. Local authorities into wards.
At a general or local election, voters put a cross (X) next to their preferred candidate on a ballot paper. Ballot papers are counted. The candidate with the most votes represents the constituency or ward.
3 日前 - In the UK's general election on Thursday, the Conservative party romped to victory. It now holds a majority of the country's parliament by about 80 seats. Prime minister Boris Johnson has already called the victory a mandate ...
But the stunning win belies the mood of the country as a whole—more than 50% of UK voters actually voted for a pro-Remain party—and ultimately stands as an example of why the UK needs to reevaluate its electoral system.
At the moment, in a nutshell, voters go to the polls to elect a local MP for their geographic constituency. The party with the most local MPs, or seats, wins. Some constituencies have about 100,000 voters or more, others have as few as 20,000. But no matter the population size of constituency, they still each get one seat. The candidate with the most votes wins that seat, while the other votes are essentially tossed aside. As a result, it’s actually possible for a majority of voters to choose a party that ultimately fails to win a majority of seats.
5 日前 - CNBC takes a look at all you need to know about Britain's voting system.
標題：贏者全拿的選舉制度如何扭曲了民意
美國哥倫比亞大學的知名教授Jeffrey D Sachs針對英國最近的大選做了一個非常精緻的分析。我們都知道，這次大選最重要的議題是英國是否應該脫離歐盟。選舉的結果是，主張脫歐的保守黨獲得大勝，在總共373個國會席次中贏得277個席次。然而，在最近一次的民調裡，主張脫歐的比例其實只有46%，而主張留歐或者進行第二次公投的比例則佔53%。在實際的大選中，在最重要的11個政黨裡，只有3個政黨（包括保守黨）主張脫歐，其所得的票數比例為46.4%，其餘的8個政黨則主張留歐或第二次公投，其所得的票數比例為52.2%。換言之，主張留歐或第二次公投的政黨所得的票數顯著地多於主張脫歐的政黨。然而，選舉的結果卻是主張脫歐的保守黨大勝。
為什麼會這樣呢？首先，支持脫歐的選民把票集中投給保守黨，而不支持者則沒有將票集中投給某個政黨，例如工黨。再者，英國的選舉制度採用的是贏者全拿的first-past-the-post方式。也就是，在任何一個選區裡，得票最高的政黨拿走了該選區的席位。反之，大多數歐盟國家則採用比例代表制，也就是，一個政黨所獲得席位的比例等同於它獲得選票的比例。因此，如果英國也採用比例代表制，那麼獲勝的將是主張留歐以及第二次公投的8個政黨，應該由它們來共組聯合內閣，而不是其他3個政黨。
由上面的分析，我們可以看到贏者全拿的選舉制度如何大幅度地扭曲了選民的意向，把國家的方向帶往並不符合多數選民意向的那一邊。Sachs教授進一步指出，美國的大選制度採用的是比英國更偏向贏者全拿的方式。在美國大選中，一個政黨只要在某州獲得最多的選票，便取得該州所有的選舉人團票。因此，在這個大選裡獲得勝利的個人便成為掌握行政權的最高領袖（總統），即使他所獲得的選票可能比另一位候選人少，當然更不要說沒有獲得過半數的選票。
Sachs教授的原文標題是The UK’s Electoral System Failed，發表於Project Syndicate，https://www.project-syndicate.org/…/uk-election-system-fail…
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