Why first-past-the-post voting favours the ibis (and Donald Trump)

The system works fine when there two candidates in an election but is a poor option when there are multiple ones - and it can lead to some bad results o Ben Raue is Guardian Australia's resident psephologistThe results so far of the Guardian's bird of the year poll have not been without controversy. The Australian white ibis, a bird that is disliked by many who encounter it, took an early lead and has maintained that lead for more than a week. While this seems like a strange result, it makes sense when you think about the options provided to the voters. With so many birds to choose from, the voting system used has a tendency to produce a winner who has a committed support base, even if that option also has a lot of opponents.The vote was conducted using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting method - everyone gets one vote, and the candidate with the highest vote wins. This system works fine when there are just two candidates running in an election, but when you get more than two, it inevitably results in candidates winning with less than a majority of the vote. The ibis is sitting on 13.6% of the total vote, with the magpie coming second on 11.1%. The top two birds combined have received less than a quarter of the total vote. Continue reading...