UK formula for determining % of seats in Commons vs. % of votes.

[Jacobtm]

In the UK, what is the formula used to decide what % of seats a party gets in the House of Commons vs. the % of the popular vote they get?

[minionofmidas]

The UK uses fptp seats, just like the US.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There isn't one; we still use FPTP.

[Jacobtm]

There isn't one; we still use FPTP.

Wow, I knew that at some point too... I should just consider everything my Polisci teacher says as wrong.

According to him, the UK uses PR, France is on its third Republic, and the U.S. House of Representatives has 535 members...

[minionofmidas]

There isn't one; we still use FPTP.

Wow, I knew that at some point too... I should just consider everything my Polisci teacher says as wrong.

According to him, the UK uses PR, France is on its third Republic, and the U.S. House of Representatives has 535 members...

The devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly use a modified form of PR, though.

[afleitch]

You can do a rough and I mean very rough estimate if you want to calculate what would happen is a parties share went up or down. Take the raw number of votes for each party and then divide by the number of seats won. That shows how many 'votes' it theoretically takes to win a seat (you can also divide the % by number of seats but thats trickier) and you can use that as a rough guide to guessing what would happen if Labour dropped 1% and the Tories rose 1% for example.

Or use a swingometer.

Truth be told it's hard to predict; even in Scotland and Wales

[Harry Hayfield]

Or use a swingometer.

Did somebody say "swingometer"?

If you can wait a couple of days until I get that book with all the notionals for 2005 (and then a week whilst I do the number crunching) I can get you a swingometer for 2007/2009/2010 by the end of February (and yes, I can also do one for the National Assembly as well!, your choice though. Plaid / Lab or Con / Lab)?

[Colin]

If your PoliSci teacher believes that the UK uses some sort of PR for parliamentary elections, that the US has 535 seats in the House, and that France is in the Third Republic he really shouldn't be teaching.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If your PoliSci teacher believes that the UK uses some sort of PR for parliamentary elections, that the US has 535 seats in the House, and that France is in the Third Republic he really shouldn't be teaching.

I'm sure there are worse teachers out there.

[Colin]

If your PoliSci teacher believes that the UK uses some sort of PR for parliamentary elections, that the US has 535 seats in the House, and that France is in the Third Republic he really shouldn't be teaching.

I'm sure there are worse teachers out there.

Oh I'm sure I'm just stating my opinion. You need to know some basic facts in order to teach anything, especially in a field like polisci. I don't think this is really excusable at the college level.

[Jacobtm]

If your PoliSci teacher believes that the UK uses some sort of PR for parliamentary elections, that the US has 535 seats in the House, and that France is in the Third Republic he really shouldn't be teaching.

I'm sure there are worse teachers out there.

Oh I'm sure I'm just stating my opinion. You need to know some basic facts in order to teach anything, especially in a field like polisci. I don't think this is really excusable at the college level.

It really is inexcusable. No one's perfect, but in 1 hour, when I can correct him on 3 things, it's quite bad.

But apparently he does tons of research on Islam in Africa, so I guess the University doesn't mind his lack of knowledge in other areas...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

If your PoliSci teacher believes that the UK uses some sort of PR for parliamentary elections, that the US has 535 seats in the House, and that France is in the Third Republic he really shouldn't be teaching.

I'm sure there are worse teachers out there.

Oh I'm sure I'm just stating my opinion. You need to know some basic facts in order to teach anything, especially in a field like polisci. I don't think this is really excusable at the college level.

Oh, I thought we were talking about grade school, since the word teacher was used instead of the word professor. That is pretty bad.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've often wondered if many forumites knew enough to be a college professor. Now I guess that's the case.

[minionofmidas]

I've often wondered if many forumites knew enough to be a college professor. Now I guess that's the case.

I for one know that I know too much to be a college professor.