Base → The history of electoral systems → The excesses of FPTP

The excesses of the first-past-the-post system

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Aside from the fact that it is easy to understand and implement, one might be tempted to think that the FPTP system could give fair results in a context where there are only two dominant political parties. However, since the 1920s, there have been more than two dominant political parties in many Canadian jurisdictions and, in fact, in places where there are only two, FPTP has tended to overcompensate the winning party — sometimes to the point of an absurdity that seems anti-democratic by any reasonable measure.

The two most extreme cases in Canadian history in essentially two-party jurisdictions were the 1935 general election in Prince Edward Island, when the provincial Liberal Party won all 30 seats in the legislative assembly by getting 57.9% of the votes, and the 1987 election in New Brunswick when that province's Liberal Party swept up all 58 seats in the legislature with 60.4% of the vote — convincing majorities of the vote, certainly, but absolute majorities?

Prince Edward Island
43 → 1935 :: 23 Jul 1935 — 17 May 1939 — Majority  LIB  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 43    Majority Majority=16  Ab.Maj.: +15  G.Maj.: +30 Population [1931]: 88,038 Eligible: n/a  Particip.: n/a Votes: 75,664  Lost: 31,840 Seats: 30   1 seat = 3.33% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 30   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  LIB  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +11,984 (+15.84%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +30 (+100.00%) Position2: Votes  CONS  Seats n/a Candidacies: 60 (✓ 30)  LIB  30   CONS  30    LIB  43,824 57.92 100.00 30  CONS   REJ   ABS  31,840 —— —— 42.08 —— —— This assembly was historic in the sense that there was no opposition member — the first such sweep in a legislature in the British empire.
New Brunswick
51 → 1987 :: 13 Oct 1987 — 22 Sep 1991 — Majority  LIB  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 51    Majority Majority=30  Ab.Maj.: +29  G.Maj.: +58 Population [1987]: 726,566 (est.) Eligible: 501,642  Particip.: 81.96% Votes: 411,136  Lost: 164,434 Seats: 58   1 seat = 1.72% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 58   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  LIB  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +129,905 (+31.80%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +58 (+100.00%) Position2: Votes  PC  Seats n/a Candidacies: 184 (✓ 58)   m: 153 (✓ 51)   f: 31 (✓ 7)  LIB  58   PC  58   NDP  52   IND  10    LIB  246,702 60.39 100.00 58  PC   NDP   IND   REJ   ABS  116,797 43,083 1,934 2,620 90,506 28.59 10.55 0.47 0.64 —— This assembly was the second and last in the history of assemblies in the British empire to yield no opposition, the first one having occurred following the 1935 general election on Prince Edward Island.

(It should be noted that general elections on Prince Edward Island tend to drastically overcompensate the winning party because of the small number of seats in the assembly.)

Examples of overcompensation of winning political parties that were less spectacular but just as striking include the 1975 and 1979 Alberta elections, and the 1973 Québec election. In these three cases, the winning party — the Progressive Conservatives in Alberta and the Liberal Party in Québec — obtained enormous pluralities and 92 to 93 percent of the seats. Yet the Alberta PCs had gotten “only” 63.4% of the votes in 1975 and 57.4% in 1979, while the Québec Liberals received a huge seat bonus with their 54.7% of the votes.

Alberta
18 → 1975 :: 26 Mar 1975 — 13 Mar 1979 — Majority  PC  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 18    Majority Majority=38  Ab.Maj.: +32  G.Maj.: +63 Population [1975]: 1,795,097 (est.) Eligible: 994,158  Particip.: 59.58% Votes: 592,354  Lost: 34,591 Seats: 75   1 seat = 1.33% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 75   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  PC  Seats  PC  Plurality: ↳ +266,981 (+45.23%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +66 (+88.00%) Position2: Votes  SC  Seats  SC  Candidacies: 293 (✓ 75)   m: 259 (✓ 73)   f: 34 (✓ 2)  PC  76   SC  70   NDP  75   OTH  22   LIB  46   IND  4    PC  374,192 63.40 93.33 70  SC   NDP  107,211 76,360 18.17 12.94 5.33 1.33 4 1  OTH   LIB   IND   REJ   ABS  2,358 29,424 625 2,184 401,804 0.40 4.99 0.11 0.37 ——  PC  →  PC  75 (✓ 69)   ISC  1 (✓ 1 → Gordon E. Taylor, officially counted as Independent)  OTH  →  IPC  3   COMM  14   ILIB  2   CSPA  3  IPC   ILIB  Votes were officially counted as Independent.  !!!  35 (46.67%)
19 → 1979 :: 14 Mar 1979 —  1 Nov 1982 — Majority  PC  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 19    Majority Majority=40  Ab.Maj.: +35  G.Maj.: +69 Population [1979]: 2,079,840 (est.) Eligible: 1,215,490  Particip.: 58.71% Votes: 713,654  Lost: 52,289 Seats: 79   1 seat = 1.27% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 79   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  PC  Seats  PC  Plurality: ↳ +266,813 (+37.53%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +70 (+88.61%) Position2: Votes  SC  Seats  SC  Candidacies: 334 (✓ 79)   m: 290 (✓ 73)   f: 44 (✓ 6)  PC  79   SC  79   NDP  79   LIB  78   OTH  10   IND  9    PC  408,097 57.40 93.67 74  SC   NDP  141,284 111,984 19.87 15.75 5.06 1.27 4 1  LIB   OTH   IND   REJ   ABS  43,792 2,376 3,836 2,691 501,836 6.16 0.33 0.54 0.38 —— Difference since the previous general election: +4 seats  OTH  →  IPC  3   COMM  7  IPC  Votes were officially counted as Independent. Two of the three  IPC  officially Independent Conservative.  !!!  47 (59.49%)
Québec
30 → 1973 :: 29 Oct 1973 — 14 Nov 1976 — Majority  QLP  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 30    Majority Majority=56  Ab.Maj.: +47  G.Maj.: +94 Population [1973]: 6,199,080 (est.) Eligible: 3,763,911  Particip.: 80.39% Votes: 3,025,738  Lost: 209,489 Seats: 110   1 seat = 0.91% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 110   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  QLP  Seats  QLP  Plurality: ↳ +725,925 (+24.43%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +96 (+87.28%) Position2: Votes  PQ  Seats  PQ  Candidacies: 479 (✓ 110)   m: 453 (✓ 109)   f: 26 (✓ 1)  QLP  110   PQ  110   SCRQ  109   UN  110   IND  26   OTH  14    QLP  1,623,734 54.65 92.73 102  PQ   SCRQ  897,809 294,706 30.22 9.92 5.45 1.82 6 2  UN   IND   OTH   REJ   ABS  146,209 7,195 1,325 54,760 738,173 4.92 0.24 0.04 1.81 —— Difference since the previous general election: +2 seats  OTH  →  ML  14  !!!  2 (1.82%)

And while the 1879 Ontario general election is far in the past, the fact that the Liberal Party of Ontario got nearly twice as many seats as the Conservatives, and that with only 2 more votes, goes a long way toward proving that the FPTP system has always been prone to yielding bizarre outcomes. That province’s history of poor voter turnout might explain why FPTP is consistently dysfunctional there.

Ontario

4 → 1879 ::  5 Jun 1879 — 26 Feb 1883 — Majority  LIB  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 4    Majority Majority=45  Ab.Maj.: +12  G.Maj.: +24 Population [1871]: 1,620,851 Eligible: 392,085  Particip.: 63.22% Votes: 247,857  Lost: 8,691 Seats: 88   1 seat = 1.14% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 88   ↳ By acclamation: 2 (2.27%) Plurality: Votes  LIB  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +2 (+0.00%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +26 (+29.55%) Position2: Votes  LC  Seats  LC  Candidacies: 189 (✓ 88)  LIB  80   LC  87   OTH  3   IND  19    LIB  118,515 47.82 63.64 56  LC   OTH  118,513 2,111 47.82 0.85 34.09 2.27 30 2  OTH   IND   REJ   ABS  606 8,085 —— 144,228 0.24 3.26 —— ——  LIB  By acclamation: 1. Got only 2 more votes than the Conservatives but won nearly double the number of seats.  LC  By acclamation: 1  OTH  →  ICON  2 (✓ 2)   LAB  1  !!!  39 (44.32%)

Meanwhile, although the Progressive Conservative Party could be commended for achieving the rare feat federally of winning 50% of the popular vote in the 1984 general election, was its majority in the House of Commons not grossly exaggerated? Based of the popular vote, we could have expected the Liberal Party to have won close to twice as many seats and about two thirds more for the NDP, while the Conservatives netted nearly 50% more. In short, FPTP has this annoying tendency of creating crushing but oversized victories.

Canada

33 → 1984 ::  4 Sep 1984 — 20 Nov 1988 — Majority  PC  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 33    Majority Majority=142  Ab.Maj.: +70  G.Maj.: +140 Population [1984]: 25,533,398 (est.) Eligible: 16,808,826  Particip.: 75.19% Votes: 12,637,815  Lost: 450,396 Seats: 282   1 seat = 0.35% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 282   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  PC  Seats  PC  Plurality: ↳ +2,762,332 (+22.01%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +171 (+60.64%) Position2: Votes  LIB  Seats  LIB  Candidacies: 1,449 (✓ 282)   m: 1,232 (✓ 255)   f: 217 (✓ 27)  PC  282   LIB  282   NDP  282   IND  85   QNP  74   GRN  60   SC  51   OTH  333    PC  6,278,818 50.03 74.82 211  LIB   NDP   IND  3,516,486 2,359,915 32,200 28.02 18.81 0.26 14.18 10.64 0.35 40 30 1  IND   QNP   GRN   SC   OTH   REJ   ABS  29,165 85,865 26,751 16,659 203,003 88,953 4,171,011 0.23 0.68 0.21 0.13 1.62 0.70 ——  OTH  →  RHIN  89   CORW  55   LBT  72   COMM  52   CWC  65  !!!  22 (7.80%)

But then who can forget the 1993 federal election that saw that same Progressive Conservative Party win only 0.7% of the seats (i.e., 2) on the weight of 16% of the votes against the Liberal Party's 60% of the seats (i.e., 177) for getting 41.3% of the votes? Although the PC Party did come back a little in 1997 and 2000, it is widely agreed that its 1993 spanking, prompted in good part by the wear of power and a profound disatisfaction towards the party but also by the rise of Western Canadian conservatism, relegated it to the dustbin of history.

Canada

35 → 1993 :: 25 Oct 1993 —  1 Jun 1997 — Majority  LIB  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 35    Majority Majority=148  Ab.Maj.: +30  G.Maj.: +59 Population [1993]: 28,600,864 (est.) Eligible: 19,814,718  Particip.: 69.96% Votes: 13,862,010  Lost: 662,449 Seats: 295   1 seat = 0.34% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 295   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  LIB  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +3,088,707 (+22.60%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +123 (+41.69%) Position2: Votes  REF  Seats  BQ  Candidacies: 2,156 (✓ 295)   m: 1,678 (✓ 242)   f: 478 (✓ 53)  LIB  295   BQ  75   REF  207   NDP  294   PC  295   IND  152   GRN  79   OTH  759    LIB  5,647,952 41.32 60.00 177  BQ   REF   NDP   PC   IND  1,846,024 2,559,245 939,575 2,186,422 20,343 13.51 18.72 6.87 16.00 0.15 18.31 17.63 3.05 0.68 0.34 54 52 9 2 1  IND   GRN   OTH   REJ   ABS  89,050 32,979 346,081 194,339 5,952,708 0.65 0.24 2.53 1.40 ——  OTH  →  NP  171   NLP  231   CHP  59   LBT  52   ABOL  80   CAN  56   CWC  59   ML  51  !!!  99 (33.56%)

Admittedly, not all elections held under the FPTP system have yielded such counterintuitive results, but rare are the examples of results that have fairly accurately reflected the will of the people, with few distortions. The 1960 Québec general election is one of them. But the more predominant and strange hallmark of FPTP is that at least one party is often grossly over- or underrepresented, not to mention that the party winning the plurality of votes in the entire jurisdiction is not guaranteed to be called upon to form government, as was the case six years later when, to everyone’s surprise, the Union nationale formed a majority government as it did back in 1944 by losing the popular vote even more in ’66! So, a puzzling bug of FPTP is that it can lead to the “wrong winner,” which is something that has occurred several times in Canada, including most recently in the 2019 and 2021 federal general elections.

Québec
26 → 1960 :: 22 Jun 1960 — 13 Nov 1962 — Majority  QLP  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 26    Majority Majority=48  Ab.Maj.: +4  G.Maj.: +7 Population [1960]: 5,119,000 (est.) Eligible: 2,608,439  Particip.: 81.66% Votes: 2,130,120  Lost: 66,458 Seats: 95   1 seat = 1.05% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 95   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  QLP  Seats  QLP  Plurality: ↳ +99,814 (+4.77%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: +8 (+8.42%) Position2: Votes  UN  Seats  UN  Candidacies: 254 (✓ 95)  QLP  95   UN  95   QSDP  1   IND  16   OTH  47    QLP  1,077,135 51.38 53.68 51  UN   IND  977,321 9,206 46.61 0.44 45.26 1.05 43 1  IND   QSDP   OTH   REJ   ABS  14,212 166 18,559 33,521 478,319 0.68 0.01 0.89 1.57 —— Difference since the previous general election: +2 seats Because of missing raw data for a few ridings, “Eligible,” “Participation” and “Rejected” were taken from the Assemblée nationale du Québec.  OTH  →  UNI  21   ILIB  20   COMM  2   LR  1   FC  1   UNO  1   OI  1  !!!  4 (4.21%)
28 → 1966 ::  5 Jun 1966 — 28 Apr 1970 — Majority  UN  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 28    Majority Majority=55  Ab.Maj.: +2  G.Maj.: +4 Population [1966]: 5,780,845 Eligible: 3,222,302  Particip.: 73.09% Votes: 2,370,359  Lost: 305,067 Seats: 108   1 seat = 0.93% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 108   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  QLP  Seats  UN  Plurality: ↳ +141,321 (+6.08%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: -6 (-5.55%) Position2: Votes  UN  Seats  QLP  Candidacies: 418 (✓ 108)   m: 407 (✓ 107)   f: 11 (✓ 1)  UN  108   QLP  107   IND  29   RN  89   SCRQ  1   OTH  84    UN  948,928 40.82 51.85 56  QLP   IND  1,090,249 26,115 46.90 1.12 46.30 1.85 50 2  IND   RN   SCRQ   OTH   REJ   ABS  42,080 74,496 174 142,636 45,681 851,943 1.81 3.20 0.01 6.14 1.93 —— The electoral system brought the “wrong winner” at the head of the seat count. Difference since the previous general election: +13 seats Because of missing raw data for a few ridings, “Eligible,” “Participation” and “Rejected” were taken from the Assemblée nationale du Québec.  UN  Last government formed by this party.  OTH  →  RIN  73   ILIB  1   CON  3   COMM  4   PVR  1   SOV  1   PDE  1  !!!  20 (18.52%)
22 → 1944 ::  8 Aug 1944 — 27 Jul 1948 — Majority  UN  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 22    Majority Majority=46  Ab.Maj.: +3  G.Maj.: +5 Population [1941]: 3,331,882 Eligible: 1,865,396  Particip.: 72.13% Votes: 1,345,560  Lost: 76,792 Seats: 91   1 seat = 1.10% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 91   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  QLP  Seats  UN  Plurality: ↳ +13,030 (+0.98%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: -11 (-12.09%) Position2: Votes  UN  Seats  QLP  Candidacies: 333 (✓ 91)  UN  92   QLP  90   OTH  96   CCF  25   IND  17   UE  13    UN  510,293 38.37 52.75 48  QLP   OTH   CCF   IND  523,323 191,564 37,001 6,587 39.35 14.40 2.78 0.50 40.66 4.40 1.10 1.10 37 4 1 1  OTH   IND   UE   REJ   ABS  29,307 12,766 19,128 15,591 519,836 2.20 0.96 1.44 2.40 1.16 —— The electoral system brought the “wrong winner” at the head of the seat count. Difference since the previous general election: +5 seats First provincial general election in which women could run for office or vote.  CCF  First and last time this party was represented in this assembly.  UE  →  UE  12   CP  1  OTH  →  BPC  80 (✓ 4)   ILIB  7   OI  2   LPP  3   UNI  2   NI  1   BPI  1  BPC  Party opposed to conscription during World War II.  !!!  17 (18.68%)
Canada
43 → 2019 :: 21 Oct 2019 — 19 Sep 2021 — Minority  LIB  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 43    Minority Majority=170  Ab.Maj.: -13  G.Maj.: -24 Population [2019]: 37,422,946 (est.) Eligible: 27,373,058  Particip.: 67.04% Votes: 18,350,359  Lost: 606,627 Seats: 338   1 seat = 0.30% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 338   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  CPC  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +210,765 (+1.16%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: -36 (-10.65%) Position2: Votes  LIB  Seats  CPC  Candidacies: 2,146 (✓ 338)   m: 1,397 (✓ 240)   f: 748 (✓ 98)    x: 1 (✓ 0)  LIB  338   CPC  337   BQ  78   NDP  338   GRN  337   IND  127   PPC  315   OTH  276    LIB  6,018,728 33.12 46.45 157  CPC   BQ   NDP   GRN   IND  6,229,493 1,387,030 2,903,722 1,187,494 17,265 34.28 7.63 15.98 6.54 0.10 35.80 9.47 7.10 0.89 0.30 121 32 24 3 1  IND   PPC   OTH   REJ   ABS  68,873 294,092 64,183 179,479 9,022,699 0.37 1.62 0.35 0.98 —— The electoral system brought the “wrong winner” at the head of the seat count.  OTH  →  CHP  51   RHIN  39   LBT  24   VCP  25   APPC  17   ML  51   PPIQ  13   COMM  29  OTH  →  PCP  3   MP  4   CFF  7   UPC  4   NCA  4   SCC  2   CNP  3  !!!  194 (57.40%)
44 → 2021 :: 20 Sep 2021 — Present     — Minority  LIB  → Majority  LIB   NDP  Summary Government Opposition Lost votes Party Votes Seats Party Votes Seats Party Votes # % % # # % % # # % Parliament: 44    Minority Majority=170  Ab.Maj.: -11  G.Maj.: -20 Population [2021]: 38,246,108 Eligible: 27,509,496  Particip.: 62.56% Votes: 17,209,811  Lost: 1,192,177 Seats: 338   1 seat = 0.30% ↳ Elec.Sys.:  FPTP: 338   ↳ By acclamation: 0 (0.00%) Plurality: Votes  CPC  Seats  LIB  Plurality: ↳ +202,436 (+1.19%) Plurality: ↳ Seats: -40 (-11.83%) Position2: Votes  LIB  Seats  CPC  Candidacies: 2,010 (✓ 338)   m: 1,247 (✓ 235)   f: 760 (✓ 103)    x: 3 (✓ 0)  LIB  337   CPC  336   BQ  78   NDP  336   GRN  252   IND  95   PPC  312   OTH  264    LIB   NDP  5,537,638 3,022,328 32.51 17.74 47.04 7.40 159 25  CPC   BQ   GRN   IND  5,740,074 1,301,615 396,988 18,991 33.70 7.64 2.33 0.11 35.21 9.47 0.59 0.30 119 32 2 1  IND   PPC   OTH   REJ   ABS  53,837 840,993 121,779 175,568 10,299,685 0.32 4.94 1.18 1.02 —— The electoral system brought the “wrong winner” at the head of the seat count.  LIB  Rajinder (Raj) Saini withdrew his candidacy but after closure of nominations, so remained listed as the candidate in Kitchener Centre (ON).  LIB → IND  Kevin Vuong was elected in Spadina—Fort York (ON) but had been dropped from the ticket and sat as an independent MP (votes received recorded as such).  CPC → IND  The candidate in Beaches—East York (ON) had been dropped from the ticket. Votes received recorded as independent.  NDP → IND  The candidates in Cumberland—Colchester (NS) and Toronto—St. Paul's (ON) had been dropped from the ticket. Votes received recorded as independents.  OTH  →  FREE  59   MAV  29   CHP  25   RHIN  27   LBT  13   COMM  26   ML  36   PPIQ  10  OTH  →  APPC  10   MP  9   VCP  7   CENT  4   NCAC  4   PAT  2   CFF  2   CNP  1  !!!  268 (79.29%)

Perhaps you are thinking that I selected these examples because they make my point and ignored those that contradict it. However, aside from the first two examples which were glaringly obvious, I had to deliberate long and hard as to which ones out of the 413 partisan general elections I should present here, for rare are those that do not have some degree of distortion between the popular vote and the seat counts. You can go see for yourself in the “Summary of general elections” area of the Elections section.

But perhaps before you do that, allow me to make my full-on argument for PR.