Priti Patel’s changes to mayoral elections entrench the unfair first-past-the-post system that favours the Conservatives
This county is in reverse gear. Feel the tidal tug backwards in everything from extreme inequality, to rising infant mortality and a retreat from key international alliances. The latest regression is the home secretary’s announcement that tiny steps towards a modern voting system are to be stamped out. Mayors and police and crime commissioners will be elected on the same rotten first-past-the-post (FPTP) disproportionate system as the House of Commons and councils.
Until now those elections have been run on a supplementary vote system, offering a first and second choice: if no candidate gets over half of first preferences, the top two candidates have a runoff, counting second preferences of the losers, guaranteeing the winner’s approval by over half the electorate.
