Advantages and disadvantages of the Additional Member System
What are the advantages of AMS?
- More choice: Voters have more choice when they go to vote. In the first vote they may choose a local representative from one party but in their second (list) vote they may switch to a different party.
- Fairer to all parties / proportional: The overall result is fairer to all parties or more proportional. For example, the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections saw a maximum difference of 5% between the voted received and the MSPs returned.
- More views represented: It is possible that a greater number of parties will be represented in the government as a coalition is more likely.
- Every vote counts: Although voters may find their chosen constituency candidate has little chance of winning, their second vote will help to elect a representative from the party of their choice.
- More choice of representative: Voters don't just rely on one MSP. They can seek help from an MSP who they feel will better represent their views or needs.
What are the disadvantages of AMS?
- Complex: Elections are more complicated with two votes and in deciding which candidates are elected from the regional list.
- Multiple representatives: Having several MSPs to represent each voter is confusing for some voters.
- Coalitions more likely: Coalition or a minority government becomes more likely. This can slow down political decision-making. It can also give more power to smaller parties if the larger party in government depends on their support.
- Not most proportional system: Although AMS is a proportional representation system, it is not the most proportional of systems. For example, the SNP received around 44% of the vote in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election but returned 49% of MSPs (63 out of 129) while the Liberal Democrats received around 7% of the vote but only returned 5 MSPs (4%).
- Parties control regional lists: Second vote is used to select representatives from a list to make the overall result proportional. This is less democratic as political parties not voters decide the order of the candidates on the list.