West Midlands mayoral election, 2020

West Midlands mayoral election, 2020

May 2020

Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrat   Party UKIP Green Communist

Area covered by the mayor.

Incumbent Mayor Andy Street Conservative

The second West Midlands mayoral election will be held in May 2020 to elect the Mayor of the West Midlands.^[1]

Results

Background

The position of Mayor of the West Midlands was created in 2017 following a devolution deal between the UK government and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly-elected metro mayor for combined authorities to receive additional powers from central government.^[2]

In the inaugural election in 2017, the Conservative candidate Andy Street defeated Labour's Siôn Simon in the final round with 50.4% of the vote. Under the terms of the devolution deal, the first mayoral term is set to last until 2020, followed by elections every four years.^[3]

Electoral system

The election uses a supplementary vote system, in which voters express a first and a second preference of candidates.

• 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.

All registered electors living the metropolitan boroughs of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton aged 18 or over are entitled to vote in the mayoral election.

Candidates

Candidates are required to be aged 18 or over and be a British, Commonwealth or European Union citizen. In addition they should fulfill one of the following: be registered to vote in the WMCA area; own or occupy land in the area for 12 months before their nomination; work in the WMCA for 12 months before their nomination; or have lived in the WMCA during the 12 months before their nomination.^[4] Candidates are also required to present 100 signatures of people on the electoral register, with 10 from each constituent authority, and provide a £5,000 deposit to be returned if the candidate receives more than 5% in the first round.^[4]

References