Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1052165 | Electoral Studies | 2013 | 6 Pages |
The 2010 British election resulted in what the British refer to as a “hung Parliament” for the first time in over a generation. This result further heightened the debate over the fairness and utility of the nation’s centuries-old first-past-the-post (FPTP) system. Survey data are used to simulate the election outcome under four different electoral systems beyond FPTP: round-robin pair-wise comparisons, the Borda count, the alternative vote, and Coombs' method. Results suggest that in 2010, the Liberal-Democrats were Condorcet preferred to all other parties and would have won a national election under every tested method except the alternative vote, the method supported by the Liberal-Democrats during the referendum in May 2011 and, of course, FPTP as actually used.
► BES data used to estimate voter preference orderings over three political parties. ► Simulation of 2010 British election under four electoral systems beyond FPTP. ► Consider round-robin pair-wise, Borda count, alternative vote, and Coombs' method. ► Liberal-Democrats would have won under every tested method except AV.