Supplementary vote

Question 1

what is the SV

Answer 1

• used to elect the mayor of London and directly elected mayors in other towns and cities

Question 2

How does it work?

Answer 2

• voters rank their two favourite candidates on the ballot paper in order of preference therefore only nominating a first and a second choice by marking a cross in each of the two columns aligned next to the list of candidates
• for a candidate to win they must gain over 50% of the first preference vote
• if no candidate achieve this all but the top two candidates are eliminated from the race and their second preference votes are reallocated the candidate with the highest total resulting from this is elected

Question 3

What are the advantages

Answer 3

• the winning candidate must achieve broad support which gives them greater legitimacy for example, Sadiq Khan claimed 56.8% of the London electorate a significantly more impressive share than David Cameron’s 36.1% won in 2015
• supporters of smaller parties can use their preference to express their allegiance and their second preference to indicate which party they prefer

Question 4

What are the disadvantages

Answer 4

• reduces a potentially large field of candidates down to a choice of two parties
• the winning candidate does not need to get a majority of first preference votes. The candidate who secures most first preference - the least unpopular rather than the most popular may be elected