Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Tomassi.

How are you doing today? I hope you're well and you're all ready to work through on our citizenship lesson today.

I'll be working through the lesson with you, so hopefully if you've got everything you need and you're all set to go, then we'll get started.

The title of today's lesson is, How Do Elections Work in Different Countries? And this is part of the unit, How Do Others Govern? So hopefully by the end of today's lesson you'll be able to explain different types of elections that exist across the world.

We are gonna see three keywords in this lesson today.

Now, these will be in bold throughout, so if you ever forget them or you need to refer back to them, you're not too sure, you'll find them on this page here.

So we'll go through them together now.

First-past-the-post, that's the voting system used in the UK to elect members of some local councils and members of parliament, whereby the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins.

The next one is proportional representation.

Now, this is an electoral system where political parties get a number of seats in parliament that matches the percentage of votes they receive in an election.

And finally, election.

This is the voting process to elect a person for a public position.

As I said, ever need to, you can refer back to them here.

Now, we'll make a start with the first of two learning cycles today, which is what type of elections exist.

We're gonna start here with a little map, so this is a map of the world.

Now, this shows different voting systems across the world.

This is the 2020 format, so it's always good that if you're looking at it a different time to refer back to the latest and updated one, because sometimes, like where we talk about democracy, it evolves, voting evolves, elections evolves, countries might change the way that they do things.

For now, this is what it looks like.

So that first-past-the-post, which we saw as a keyword, and proportional representation are there.

So first-past-the-post is read and proportional representation is blue.

Now, these are the major ones and we've got some pink and purple, which are mixed.

Black is no election.

There are a few different colours there and they are just mixes of, again, the main voting systems. So we are gonna focus on those four colours today and we're gonna go through them in the lesson.

So check for understanding.

Can you name the two main voting systems used across the world? So to give you a bit of a hint there, the blue and red ones are the main ones.

It is first-past-the-post and proportional representation.

Bit of a clue there.

If you managed to get the keywords, then you would've worked out that they were the main ones.

So first-past-the-post is a system that is used in the UK and it's used to elect some local councils and MPs.

It's the idea that the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins.

How this works is it's this idea that winner takes all.

So sometimes when you think about first-past-the-post, if there's a race and it's the first person to hit that line is the winner.

So it doesn't mean that the majority voted for them, it just means out of 100 votes, maybe they got 40, another candidate got 30, and another candidate got 20 and 10.

It means then the one that got the 40 points got the most votes and they would win.

So this does happen in countries like the USA, India, and Jamaica.

It happens in loads of different ones, so again, if there was a specific country you wanted to look at, you can have a look back at that world map and you could find what type of voting system they use.

Now, then we have another system which is proportional representation.

So if you ever think about, I don't know, if you do art at all about having things in proportion, then it is this idea that it all matches where it's supposed to be.

So in terms of voting, it's the idea that if you had 20% of the votes, so if there was that 100 people again and you got 20 of those votes, then you'll have 20% of the seats.

So they received the amount of seats for the amount of votes that they get.

Now, the parties will have a list of their candidates, so their prospective candidates, and they are allocated their seats based on their popularity in the party.

So if they had 20% of the seats and there are 10 seats available, that party's top two people will get those seats.

We will look at this a little bit more.

If it does still sound a bit confusing, don't worry at this stage, we will go through it as the lesson goes on.

So there are some countries that use proportional representation and those include places like Denmark, Finland, Greece, and Norway.

Remember as well it could change.

So if you look at this at a later date, always check the map for the updated versions.

True or false? Proportional representation is also known as the winner takes all.

That is false, why? Do you remember what system it is? It's the first-past-the-post that's known as winners takes all, proportional representation ensures the number of seats available matches the proportion of votes.

So we have the map again, we can see here they're the red and blue ones, but there are some pink and purple ones.

Now, these are the mixed ones and this is what we're gonna go through now.

So the main two are first-past-the-post and proportional representation, but some countries use a mix of them both.

Aisha says, "How do the other countries use a mix of first-past-the-post and proportional representation? Well, let's have a look together.

So the main two mixed systems are parallel or you could see it as mixed-member majoritarian.

And this is where first-past-the-post and proportional representation operate separately.

Again, stay with me 'cause we'll explain it a bit more on the next slides.

The next one is mixed-member proportional where proportional representation adjusts the overall seats, so they kind of overlap.

Yeah, the first one, they're completely separate, the second one has an impact on each other.

And we'll find out more about this now.

So in the parallel, the mixed-member majoritarian, the members get to make two votes.

The first is for a district candidate and that uses first-past-the-post.

So again, it's the winner takes all, the first one that gets the most votes wins.

The second is for a party list.

Yeah, so if we're thinking about political parties, this is for their list of parties and that uses proportional representation.

So the votes run independent and the party proportional representations do not change the first-past-the-post results.

So whoever they pick in the district candidate, they get their position, and then they have a second vote for a party list and then that is more seats that the party gets.

So the countries that use this system include places like Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

So check for understanding.

Which of these countries use parallel or mixed-member majoritarian elections? Denmark, Japan, or USA? It was Japan.

Did you manage to get that? Well done if you did.

Aisha says, "The USA uses first-past-the-post and Denmark uses proportional representation." Even better if you managed to remember that as well.

Next we have mixed-member proportional systems. Now, remember this is where it starts to overlap a bit.

So the members, again, get two votes, the first is for a district uses first-past-the-post.

Does this sound familiar? We're following the same way as the other one.

The second is for a party list using proportional representation.

But this is where the difference occurs.

So the district seats are adjusted so that if a party wins more district seats than their share of votes, additional seats are added to balance out the vote proportion.

Now, that's a lot to take in, so we are gonna look at an example for this one just to clarify exactly what it means.

But basically if using the first-past-the-post and the district candidates means that their political parties they belong to get more seats, then they will allow more seats in parliament for the other candidates from the parties that have been underrepresented in the first-past-the-post vote.

So some of the countries are Germany and New Zealand, and we're gonna have a look at the Germany as an example now.

So in Germany you have the Bundestag, which is the German parliament.

So that's the name they use for their parliament in Germany.

Now, it uses a mixed system, so the voters have two votes.

Again, hopefully this is sounding familiar.

Think what their first vote might be for.

So that first vote is for their district, it's their local MP from their constituency.

And if you manage to remember, it uses first-past-the-post.

So to show you there, they've got three choices in that example, and their vote, they pick person A, B, or C.

As an example, this person has picked person B.

Now, do you remember what system their second vote's gonna use and who it's for? Their second vote is for the party, not a candidate, and the percentage of the second votes determine how many votes there should be in parliament overall.

So here we've got party C has been voted for.

Now, person B is part of party B.

So this is where the seats now might become adjusted so that party C is still represented.

On their second vote, they get a ranked list of candidates.

Now, the candidates at the top are given seats first.

So if it turns out that party C have been underrepresented and they should get another seat, then their candidate who's at the top of that list would get that seat.

If they got an additional three seats, their top three candidates would get seats.

And the reason they do this is to ensure that the overall choice of voters has been represented and not just the local district winners 'cause that's something that can happen with first-past-the-post.

Again, we will go through this in a bit more detail to see it really in action.

So the Bundestag has 630 members.

Yeah, and that is their members of Parliament 299 are directly elected from vote one.

What does vote one use? Did you remember it's first-past-the-post.

So they picked their local MP from first-past-the-post and there are 299 of them.

Then the rest of the seats, so more than half of the other seats, are made up from the party votes.

And this makes sure that the seats are balanced to reflect the final party vote as close as possible.

So if a party wins more direct seats than their proportional share, extra seats may be added, which are called overhang seats, to keep the system fair.

So that as an example, say party B ended up winning lots through first-past-the-post, but actually didn't have a lot in the proportional representation, then that's when the overhang seats would come in place to ensure that they did end up roughly with their right percentage of votes and seats.

A check for understanding now 'cause we've gone through a lot of detail about this.

So, which is the correct example of the voting system used in the German Bundestag elections? A, voters get one vote using first-past-the-post system, B, voters get two votes using mixed-member proportional representation.

Did you manage to get that it was B? Hopefully you did.

Now, that is the really key information that you need to know there.

However, if you did manage to really understand that example, even better, but don't worry because this is a really tricky concept to grasp.

So we're gonna start now with the first task.

Identify which type of electoral system is being used in a country that uses this system.

Read them out and then you can take some time, pause, and unpause when you have your response.

So A, I have chosen a fair system where all of the votes match the amount of seats that are available.

B, I've chosen a quick and easy system where the person with the most votes wins.

C.

I've chosen a mixed system where you get two votes, but they run separately.

And D, I've chosen a mixed system where you get two votes, but the results are adjusted to ensure there is right proportion.

Take your time now, unpause when you're ready to feedback.

How did you get on? Now, obviously for this example, there are just four countries here.

There are a lot more countries in the world.

So if you did pick a different country, you could always go back to the map and check that you've got the right type of electoral system for it.

So we'll start.

Proportional representation was A and this is used in Denmark.

Again, if you picked a different country because there are many more that are correct as well.

B, first-past-the-post, and this is used in India.

C, parallel or mixed-member majoritarian, that's used in South Korea.

And D, mixed-member proportional, that's used in Germany.

And again, that one you might have been able to say that that's used in the German Bundestag parliament.

We are moving onto our second learning cycle for today, which is, how does the US electoral college work? Now, the reason we're talking about this is because this is a little bit different to some of the other elections that we've looked at, and this is specifically to elect the president in the United States.

So the electoral college is a system for the president.

There are other elections in the US that use the different systems that we've talked about earlier for their other elections.

So the electoral college is determined by each state rather than nationally, so that's each area in the US, and this means that a candidate needs to win states rather than votes overall.

This is an important bit to remember as we go through because we are gonna be talking about the states rather than individual votes.

So Sam says here, "The members of the electorate in the USA do not directly vote for the president, they vote for electors in their state who cast the vote." This is something we will talk more about through this learning cycle to hopefully clarify what that exactly means.

To start with, though, the electoral college in the US is used to elect, A, House of Representatives members, B, the president, C, senate members.

It is the president, so good job if you've got that.

Now, during these presidential elections, we talked about the state.

So each of the 50 states vote for one of the presidential candidates and they use first-past-the-post for this.

So here is example of all the states.

Now, what this map shows, it's the results showing the amount of electors or votes from each state, and this is because each state is entitled to a certain number of electors depending on the size of the state and the number of the members of Congress the state has.

So what that means is that each state does not get the same amount of votes, they don't all have 10 electors.

As you can see there, some have 54, some only have three or four, some only have one elector.

Now, we will go through how this works.

Sam says, "I thought electors were just regular citizens who vote." Aisha says, "In other elections, electors are members of the electorate who vote.

However, in the electoral college, electors refers to individuals chosen by each state to represent the states vote in the presidential election." Now, this is something to remember.

Yes, 'cause you probably would've seen the word members of the electorate or electors before, but when it is specifically talking about the US electoral college, electors are the individuals who represent their state.

So if we have a look at the map now, this map here shows the amount of electors each state gets.

And what that means is when the overall presidential vote happens, and say, a state only has three electors, maybe they're not gonna make such of an impact on the vote as the state that has 40 electors, and we will have a look at this.

So it's an example.

The State of New Hampshire is small.

There you can see it on the map.

And there are less than one million citizens from the state that voted in the 2024 presidential election.

They are represented by four electors in the electoral college system.

Then you have the State of Texas is large, so more than 11 million citizens from the state voted in the 2024 presidential election.

They are represented by 40 electors in the electoral college system.

So this shows you that the smaller states, maybe with the smaller members of the electorate voting or the numbers they have in Congress, they have a smaller amount of electors representing them compared to the larger states which will have more electors representing them.

True or false? Electors, in the electoral college system, refers to citizens who are voting.

That is false.

Can you remember why that's false? In the electoral college system, electors refers to the individuals picked by their state to represent the citizens' vote in the presidential election, they are not the citizens who are voting.

Aisha says here, "Electors can choose to vote differently to the votes made by their state's popular vote." So what actually happens is when the votes take place, the citizens will get to vote and they would pick the candidate that they would like to vote for.

Then the electors use this information to decide who the final vote goes to.

What Aisha's saying here is that they can actually choose to vote against the citizens and the state's popular vote.

However, most electors vote as pledged by their state's popular vote.

There are electors that have voted differently before to their state's vote and they are called faithless electors, but it is a rare thing to have.

'Cause think again, these people are representing the citizens.

So if people start voting against what the citizens have said, it's unlikely that people would want to see them voting as electors again.

Just to give you an example, in that 2024 presidential election that we looked at, there were no faithless electors.

So this didn't happen and the electors voted as the citizens had chosen.

Many states do try to discourage or they punish electors that vote against their state voters decision, so the majority of results do tend to be what the state's popular vote has been.

Another check for understanding now 'cause there is a lot of new information in this learning cycle.

So, what does this 2028 electoral college map show? Tick the correct response.

Is it A, the number of electors for each state, B, the number of voters in each state, or C, the number of candidates in each state? Did you manage to get that it is A? And did you remember how they came to these numbers? The amount of citizens in the state and the number that they have in Congress, that helps to come up with the number of electors.

So to explain a little bit now, when we saw that map at the beginning, it was in red and blue.

Now, the reason that it was in red and blue for the results is because the US has a two-party system, this means two political parties dominate the government.

These are the Republican party, which you would've seen in the red results, and the Democratic party, which you would've seen in the blue results.

And you could always have a look back at that map now and you could see in more detail.

So there are other parties that do exist and they're known as third parties.

However, in the electoral college, each state usually votes for either the Republic or Democratic candidate, hence the terms, if you ever hear them say, red state or blue state.

But it is good to know that actually there also would've been some other parties involved in that as well, but these tend to be the most dominant two.

So the successful presidential candidate needs to win 50% or more of the electoral college votes, so just over 270-plus votes, in order to be elected president.

The system means it's possible to win the popular vote, but lose the election.

So example, Hillary Clinton in 2016 received more votes overall than Donald Trump, but did not win the electoral college and therefore did not become president.

In the 2024 US election, Donald Trump secured 312 electoral votes and won the popular vote with 49.

8%, defeating Kamala Harris who received 226 electoral votes and 48.

3% of the popular vote.

True or false? A candidate can be elected as president without having the majority of votes.

That is true.

We are gonna move on to the second and final task here.

So Sam says, "If I were running for the president in the US, then I would focus my campaign on the states that gain the most electoral college votes." So use the map and knowledge on the electoral college to explain why Sam has chosen those states to focus on.

For example, some of those states have 54 or 40 electors, 30 electors, why might she choose that over, say, some of the states that have only three or four electors? Think about how the electoral college system works, and when you think you've got your response, you can unpause and we can go through the feedback together.

How did you get on? Now, your response could have looked like this.

So Sam has chosen to focus her campaign in those states because they gain more votes.

This is because the electoral college system is based on the number of electors from each state.

States with large populations have more electors, and in order to win overall, the president must have at least 50% of state votes.

Hopefully that made sense to you and you have a little bit of a better understanding of the US electoral college system and how it works differently to the others.

Now, that brings us onto the summary for today's lesson.

So the main two electoral systems across the world are first-past-the-post and proportional representation.

Some countries do a mixture of these systems and these are called parallel or mixed-member majoritarian, seen in Japan, or mixed-member proportional, seen in Germany.

The US electoral college system is used to elect the president of the USA.

This system involves each state having a number of electors that vote for the president.

The candidate must get over 50% of the votes from each state to win.

And now, that summarises today's lesson and has hopefully opened your eyes to a little bit of how elections work in different countries.

Thanks so much for working with me today, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.