uk politics just makes no sense to me no matter how many times i get it explained by teachers. i know that first past the post leads to disproportionate votes but have never understood the system of winning seats
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It’s because of the FPTP system you mention, combined with single-member districts.
If the Red Party won 1,000 votes in the last election in your district, while the Blue Party won 800 votes, the Red Party won the seat for your district. If the Red Party increases their vote to 1,250 in the next election, while the Blue Party votes decreases to 550, that’s a relatively minor shift in votes, and *no* change in seats, the Red Party retains the seat. However, if votes shift in the other direction, with Blue Party winning 1,050 votes while Red Party wins 750 votes, that’s an equally minor shift in votes, but a massive shift in seats won as the blue party goes from 0% to 100% of the seats in your district.
If that second scenario happens nationwide, it’s likely that a vote share increase from say 48% to 51% from one election to the next, will correspond to a seat share increase from like 40% to 60%.
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