Bristol mayoral election, 2012

Bristol mayoral election, 2012

15 November 2012
Turnout	27.92%
Candidate George Ferguson Marvin Rees Geoff Gollop Party Bristol 1st Labour Conservative 1st Round  31,321 25,896 8,136 Percentage 35.1% 29.1% 9.1% 2nd Round  37,353 31,259 Eliminated Percentage 52.9% 47.1% Eliminated   Candidate Jon Rogers Daniella Radice Party Liberal Democrat Green 1st Round  6,202 5,248 Percentage 7.0% 5.9% 2nd Round  Eliminated Eliminated Percentage Eliminated Eliminated
Mayor before election New office Elected Mayor George Ferguson Bristol 1st

The Bristol mayoral election of 2012 was an election held on 15 November 2012, to elect the Mayor of Bristol. It was the first Mayoral election held following the approval of a Mayoral system in a referendum in May 2012. It was won by Bristol 1st candidate George Ferguson.

Background

The Local Government Act 2000 required local authorities in the United Kingdom to move from the traditional committee-based system of decision making to one based on an executive, also allowing the possibility of a directly elected mayor.^[1] The first directly elected mayor was in Greater London in 2000.^[2] Others followed in other authorities, including Hartlepool,^[3] Middlesbrough,^[3] Tower Hamlets,^[4] Liverpool^[5] and Salford.^[6]

Following the passage of The City of Bristol (Mayoral Referendum) Order 2012 by the United Kingdom Parliament in February 2012,^[7] a referendum was announced for 3 May 2012.^[8] Nine other cities also held referendums on the same day: Birmingham,^[9] Bradford,^[10] Coventry,^[11] Leeds,^[12] Manchester,^[13] Newcastle upon Tyne,^[14] Nottingham,^[15] Sheffield^[16] and Wakefield.^[17] In addition, Doncaster Borough Council voted to hold a referendum on the same day to decide whether or not to retain their existing elected mayoral system, having been one of the earliest authorities to adopt the mayoral system in 2001.^[18][19]

Campaigning groups supporting (A Mayor for Bristol)^[20] and opposing (Bristol Says No!)^[21] an elected mayor were established. A debate organised by the University of Bristol took place in the Council House on 22 February 2012.^[22]

The result, declared on 4 May 2012 by returning officer Stephen McNamara, was in favour of creating the position. Bristol was the only one of the ten cities voting that day to choose having an elected mayor.^[23]

Voting system

The election used a supplementary vote system, in which voters express a first and a second preference of candidates.^[24]

• If a candidate receives over 50% of the first preference vote the candidate wins.
• If no candidate receives an overall majority, i.e., over 50% of first preference votes, the top two candidates proceed to a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.
• The first preference votes for the remaining two candidates stand in the final count.
• Voters' ballots whose first and second preference candidates are eliminated are discarded.
• Voters whose first preference candidates have been eliminated and whose second preference candidate is in the top two have their second preference votes added to the count.

This means that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters who expressed a preference among the top two.

Result

References