The best of Democratic Audit’s 2015 General Election coverage

The 2015 election result took almost everyone by surprise, with the Conservatives winning a narrow majority despite predictions of another hung parliament or a minority government. In addition to contributing to LSE’s General Election live-blog, Democratic Audit offered a wide range of pre- and post- election analysis. Catch up with some of the best below.

The First-Past-the-Post electoral system is breaking up the UK

The First Past The Post electoral system exacerbates divisions between the different parts of Britain, adding to pressures that could break the union, with the General Election potentially hastening this process. Tim Oliver discusses whether it is too late to change course.

The exit poll in 2010 was almost exactly correct, but what is it, and how does it actually work?

Shortly after the 10 o’clock deadline on election day, broadcasters release a forecast based on the exit poll, which gives the first insight into how voters have actually voted in the general election. In this post, Jouni Kuha explains the detail behind the exit poll forecast, and indicates some of the difficulties in putting together a forecast under considerable time pressures.

First-Past-the-Post means that many constituencies are foregone conclusions, so how much power do voters really have?

Carl Cullinane explains how, because of the UK’s First Past The Post electoral system, some voters come to wield far more influence than others. Not only is this unfair, but the inequity that comes about because of the division between safe seats and marginal seats also has a corrosive effect on democracy.

Three more years of Cameron – but it will be a rocky road ahead

Confounding the pollsters and the pundits, voters in England have given David Cameron another three years as Prime Minister, collapsed the Liberal Democrats to a shell and dashed the Labour elite’s dream of edging back into power via a minority government. Patrick Dunleavy unravels what was and was not historic in the 2015 general election results.

The UK has just held a General Election – but how democratic are we as a country?

Democratic Audit UK has long led the way in assessing the health, strength and durability of UK democracy, with the 2012 Audit of Democracy showing worrying trends and highlighting the numerous systemic problems with the UK’s constitutional and political settlement. Here, Karima Bousbah, Miriam Hänni, Lea Heyne, Lisa Müller and Saskia Ruth apply a new method for calculating the democratic strength of different countries to the UK, finding a modest upswing in our credentials as a country since the late 1990s.

EVEL, Brexit, and the SNP: what does the 2015 election mean for the House of Commons?

The Conservatives shocked everyone by winning a small majority at the 2015 General Election, despite predictions of a hung parliament and the possibility of constitutional wrangling over who had legitimacy to form the next Government. As they bed down for another five years, Louise Thompson looks at what their unexpected victory means for parliament, focussing on the SNP influx, English Votes for English Laws, and the Brexit referendum.

The 2015 election was won and lost on brands, messages, and leaders rather than policy

We are beginning to gain a better sense of what it was that proved decisive when the votes were counted on the night of Thursday May 5th, and the Conservatives gained their first majority government since 1992. Rafael Malek shares research from BritainThinks which shows that national level concerns, party ‘brand’ and leadership all played their part in consigning Labour to a second consecutive election defeat.

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Note: this post represents the views of the authors and not those of Democratic Audit UK or the LSE. Please read our comments policy before posting. Cover image credit: Number 10 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0