The term additional member system, introduced by the Hansard Society, has been largely replaced in the literature by the term mixed member proportional coined by New Zealand's Royal Commission on the Electoral System (1984–1986). It is used to elect representatives for single-member constituencies, but rather than simply marking a solitary 'X' on the ballot paper, the voter has the chance to rank the candidates on offer by putting a '1' by their first preference, a '2' by their second preference and so on. », mixed character keeps constituency representation and combines this with fairer representation - e.g.
However, the Coalition government elected in May 2010 agreed that the electorate should be allowed to decide, in a referendum scheduled for May 2011, whether the UK should adopt the 'alternative vote' system instead of the current 'first past the post' system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. In the Scottish elections of 1999 and 2003, and the Welsh elections of 1999, the electoral system failed to return an absolute majority for any one party, requiring coalition administrations to be formed. Scotland 2011 formed a single party government, allows voters to make a wider choice and vote for different parties in constituency and list elections, allows smaller parties to gain seats - e.g. But in order for the referendum to take place in May, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill had to be passed by 16th February according to Electoral Commission rules and the Opposition appeared to be intent on blocking the legislation. In almost all elections in the UK there are no thresholds except the "effective threshold" inherent in the regional structure. Similarly, there are a number of different systems based on PR. Where used: Australian House of Representatives; Australian Legislative Assemblies ("lower houses") of all states and territories (bar Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, which both use STV); Australian Legislative Council in Tasmania; Irish Presidential election; By-elections to the Dáil (the lower house of the Irish Parliament); By-elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly; Papua New Guinea National Parliament; Fijian House of Representatives; numerous American Mayoral and district elections; Student Union elections. The growth in support for PR has stemmed largely from recent concerns about the First Past the Post system. On the other hand, in the constituency vote, the voter votes for a specific candidate rather than a party.
SNP won 44% votes and 53.5% seats in 2011 Scottish elections, create confusion - two classes of representatives - e.g. The additional member system (AMS), also known as mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) outside the United Kingdom, is a mixed electoral system with one tier of single-member district representatives, and another tier of ‘additional members’ elected to make the overall election results more proportional.. [citation needed]. Therefore, arrival in government under First Past The Post is likely to dampen any party's enthusiasm for PR - as some suggested was the case with Labour in 1997. ", "We will bring forward a Referendum Bill on electoral reform, which includes provision for the introduction of the Alternative Vote in the event of a positive result in the referendum, as well as for the creation of fewer and more equal sized constituencies. The Additional Member System (AMS) This system goes some way towards ensuring that the overall number of seats held by each political party reflects the share of the vote that the party receives. As a defensive move, the other coalition, Olive Tree, felt obliged to do the same, under the name Paese Nuovo. A different Additional Member System (AMS) is used to elect the Scottish parliament and the Welsh Assembly. If a voter votes for different parties at the constituency and regional levels this is referred to as split-ticket voting. Any party that comes to power under First Past The Post is likely to appreciate the advantages that it gives to the government: a strong mandate, (usually) a lack of coalition partners, and considerable freedom of action. Candidates having won a constituency will still have won their seat. In the first election for Scotland's new Parliament, the majority of voters surveyed misunderstood some key aspects of the difference there between the "first" (constituency) vote and the "second" (regional list) vote; indeed in some ways the understanding worsened in the second election.