London Mayor, London Assembly and European Elections

London Elects to stay at home. Will Apathy Rule on June 10th?

Without much fanfare Londoners are being asked to vote in not one but three elections on June 10th. If the lack of discussion about the elections on our site is anything to go by the turnout at these elections may challenge new lows even though the three votes have been yoked together to increase participation.

Most Londoners know Ken is up for re-election in the race for Mayor. Also the London Assembly is holding elections as well as the European parliament. Details of the candidates and voting rules are given below.

London's Mayor

The Mayor of London is elected using a system called Supplementary Vote. In the Supplementary Vote system, voters can cast a first and second choice vote for Mayor. A voter does not have to cast a second choice vote, but must cast a first choice or the ballot paper will not be counted. If a candidate receives more than half of the valid first choice votes, he or she is elected.

If no candidate receives half of the first choice votes, all the other candidates except the two with the most first choice votes are eliminated. Then the second choice votes from the eliminated candidates are added up and distributed. The candidate with the most first and second choice votes wins.

Candidates

London Assembly Elections

There are 25 members of the London Assembly: 14 Constituency Members and 11 London-wide Members. The Assembly is elected using the Additional Member System (AMS). This electoral system combines elements of First Past The Post and a form of proportional representation.

Voters cast two votes: one for a Constituency Assembly Member and one for the independent candidate or political party they would most like to see represented in the Assembly on a London-wide basis.

Constituency Members each represent one of London’s 14 Assembly constituencies, made up of two or three boroughs. Each constituency has a lead borough - usually the borough with the most registered voters. They are elected by the First Past The Post system, where the candidate with the most votes in each constituency is elected. If there is a tie lots are drawn by the constituency returning officer.

If all Assembly Members were elected in this way, some independents or parties whose votes were spread right across London might not win any individual seats. All the people who had voted for the candidates who were unsuccessful in the constituencies would have no representation in the Assembly, making it unrepresentative of London as a whole.

So, voters cast a second vote for an independent candidate or party. These votes are counted and then the number of constituency members is topped up with 11 additional London-wide members, where seats are allocated on a pro-rata basis to parties or candidates with over 5% of the votes cast.

Merton & Wandsworth Constituency

This consituency covers both Putney & Wandsworth Town.

Candidates

  • Elizabeth Howlett - The Conservative Party Candidate
  • Andrew Philip Martin - Liberal Democrats
  • Ellen Sheila Greco - Christian Peoples Alliance
  • Adrian Kere James Roberts - UK Independence Party
  • Roy Vickery - Green Party Candidate
  • Kathryn Anne Smith - The Labour Party Candidate
  • Ruairidh John Dugald Maclean - Respect - The Unity Coalition (George Galloway)
  • Rathy Alagaratnam - Independant

European Elections

British MEPs are elected by a system of proportional representation called the Regional List System. The United Kingdom is split into 12 regions. For the 2004 election, London will elect nine MEPs who represent the whole of the capital not one particular area.

Each political party prepares a list of candidates ranked in order to match the number of seats to be filled in that region. Once votes are counted, the first seat is allocated to the party or independent candidate with the highest number of votes. If an independent candidate is highest then the seat is allocated to that individual. If the seat has been allocated to a party it will go to the first candidate on that party’s list: that party’s total is then divided by two and the second seat is allocated to the next party or independent candidate with the highest number of votes. The process continues until all seats have been allocated. That's not complicated at all, is it?

List of European Parliament Candidates in London

May 28, 2004

Related links
 

The Mayoral Election

The London Assembly Election

The European Elections