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The swingometer is a graphics device that shows the effects of the
swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...
from one party to another on British
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
results programmes. It is used to estimate the number of seats that will be won by different parties, given a particular national swing (in
percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit for the arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points, but a 10-percent increase in the quantity being me ...
s) in the vote towards or away from a given party, and assuming that that percentage change in the vote will apply in each constituency. The device was invented by Peter Milne, and later refined by David Butler and Robert McKenzie. The first outing on British television was during a regional output from the BBC studios in Bristol during the 1955 general election (the first UK general election to be televised) and was used to show the swing in the two constituencies of Southampton Itchen and Southampton Test. Following this use in 1955, the BBC adopted the swingometer on a national basis and it was unveiled in the national broadcasts for the 1959 general election. This swingometer merely showed the national swing in Britain but not the implications on that swing on the composition of parliament. These issues were not addressed until the
1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...
. The swingometer for that election showed not only the national swing, but also the implications of that national swing. So for instance, a 3.5% swing to Labour would see Labour become a majority government whilst any swing to the Conservatives would see Sir Alec Douglas-Home reelected as
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
with a huge parliamentary majority. In the end the result was a Labour overall majority of 4, and so when the 1966 general election came around, a new element had to be added (namely the prospect of a hung parliament). At the 1970 general election, the swingometer entered the age of colour television and showed the traditional party colours of red for Labour and blue for
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and had to be extended due to the success of the Conservative party at that election. However, following the success of the Liberals in the by-elections held between the 1970 and February 1974 general elections, the swingometer was reduced in scale to just a small standby as the computers used by the BBC were deemed more reliable. As the Liberal Party reduced in importance the swingometer was brought back for the 1979 general election but for the 1983 and 1987 general elections computers were introduced to show changes in support in both map and graphic form. The swingometer was brought back for the 1992 general election covering the whole side of the election studio and also had to be manhandled by at least four technicians as well as Peter Snow who had taken over the election graphics role following the death of Bob McKenzie. This swingometer was too big for comfort and in 1997 started on a shrinking process and was changed from an actual swingometer to a virtual reality construct. For the 2001 general election the graphic was reduced further. Following a few experiments in the United Kingdom local elections in 2003 and 2004 the swingometer for the next election in 2005 was held on virtual structs as well as swingometers for the Labour and Liberal Democrats parties. An online version of the swingometer, featuring Labour and the Conservatives only, was introduced on the BBC News website at the 2001 general election. In 2005 the online swingometer was substantially re-designed to include versions featuring the Liberal Democrats, plus information on specific constituencies - including "VIP" seats - won/ lost on different swings. For the 2010 general election, the swingometer was placed in a completely virtual environment and repositioned to appear on the back wall of the virtual studio, with named constituencies as opposed to virtual MPs. All three swingometers were updated (Con / Lab, Con / Lib Dem, Lab / Lib Dem) in this manner.


3D swingometer

The 3D swingometer is used to illustrate the shift in election results from the previous election in a three-party system. It is similar to the "2D" swingometer used in
two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...
elections, but uses the extra dimension to allow swings to occur among three parties. The sum of all the swings between parties must equal zero. In a three party system, the most complicated swings will involve a major swing either to or from one
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
, with this swing being made up of two components from each of the other two parties. For instance there may be a 3-point swing towards the Purple party, consisting of a 2-point swing from the Orange party and a 1-point swing from the Brown party. Alternatively, there may be a 5-point swing from the Orange party, of which 3 points are towards the Brown party and 2 towards the Purple party. It is possible to split the swing space up into different regions indicating what the result would be if the swing indicated occurred linearly across the electorate. This gives rise to four regions: one each indicating overall control for each party, and a fourth region indicating no overall control. Where there are swings directly from one party to a second party with the third party's vote remaining unchanged, the 3D swingometer clearly indicates that the third party also benefits slightly from the reduction in vote of the first party. The three dimensions consist of the two used to create the swing space and the third for the pendulum to swing in.


Parodies

During the 2010 UK General election race, the Slapometer website allowed voters to slap along to the live TV debates between party leaders
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
,
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
and
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepre ...
. Rather than showing a swing in votes it merely gave feedback about the number of slaps each politician was receiving each second.


References

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External links


Sultan of swingometersThe oldest swingometer in townLabour and Conservatives in the 2005 UK general electionConservatives and LibDems in the 2005 UK general electionLabour and LibDems in the 2005 UK general electionElectoral College Swingometer in the 2008 US Presidential electionSlapometer website asked people to Vote with the back of your handBBC Archive - Swingometer
Television in the United Kingdom Television terminology Television technology Elections Politics of the United Kingdom British inventions 1955 introductions 1959 introductions 1959 in British television