Mayoral referendums and elections revisited

The office of the directly elected mayor has proved popular among national politicians as a means of modernising and strengthening local government but has proved less popular with local politicians and voters. A total of 51 referendums have been held since 1998. These have provided an opportunity for voters to approve or reject mayoral executives to run their local authorities. In a clear majority of cases the referendum was defeated. Another characteristic of these referendums has been the relatively low turnout, boosted only when the referendum has been timed to coincide with a general election or when all-postal voting has been used. Only 17 areas have introduced mayors and in two of these the post was subsequently abolished following a second referendum vote. It is largely urban-based authorities that have elected mayors. A total of 44 mayoral elections have been held since 2000 and in each of these the winner has been determined by the Supplementary Vote method. Low turnout has again been a characteristic of these elections despite each contest attracting a relatively large number of candidates, although not many women candidates have stood. Labour has won most of the elections although Independents have also performed well. Although it was expected that the voting system might see winning candidates emerge with strong mandates, the reality is that few mayors have been elected with an absolute majority of votes cast. A close examination of eligible second votes shows that a large number are not transferred to either of the two runoff candidates. This suggests extensive voter ignorance about the system being used to select mayors.