Seven Msp's Through The Additional Member System example essay topic

394 words
The Additional Member System which is used by the Scottish parliament is more representative of the way in which the public vote than the First Past the Post used in the General Election. There are many arguments for and against the use of the additional member system and the advantages it gives the electorate. Many believe that it is more representative of the views of the voter as it produces a more representative view of the votes than first past the post does. The additional member system works by giving the voter two votes. The first vote is for there constituency candidate who will represent them in parliament and the second vote is for a party list where they vote for a party of there choice.

From the results 73 members will represent constituencies around Scotland. In addition, 56 members selected from "party lists" in the country's eight electoral regions. These regions each will elect seven MSP'S through the Additional Member System. The AMS system is a form of proportional representation.

The parties submit candidates in order of preference and if the party is successful in winning a so-called "top-up" seat then the first name on the list will be selected. A candidate will can also stand as both a constituency candidate and on a regional list. If they succeed in a constituency this takes priority and their name is removed from the regional list so they can't be elected twice. The formula for deciding which party win the regional top-up seat is known as the d'Hondt system. This is used in many countries across Europe. The way in which it works is the second ballot is totalled for that region and the total is divided by the number of seats that each party has won-plus one.

The party with the highest total elects one additional member. The party's divisor is then increased by one and the same process is repeated until there are seven additional members elected for the region. The idea behind the system is to compensate for the parties who win large numbers of votes in constituencies but fail to win MSP's under this system they are much more likely to gain MSP's. This is seen as more representative of the constituency votes..