Make My Vote Count

The campaign for voter choice and a more representative parliament

 Skip navigation

MVC's London Elections results briefing

Make Votes Count have produced a comprehensive and unique take on the London Mayoral and Assembly election results.

View / download a copy online - click here.  [update July08: this is a revised version of the report with additional data included]

You'll find details on turnout, spoilage rates, the d'Hondt allocation of seats; and systems commentary. But, more interestingly, there are figures on % of votes counting, proportionality on the Assembly, and gender representation. I have included a critique of the FPTP constituency section, references to the SV vs AV and Alternative Vote for the Commons debates, and a tie in with the Review of Voting Systems. There is also a section on MVC's response to the election of a BNP Assembly Member

Some key facts:

  • Turnout was 8.3% higher than when these elections were conducted in 2004.

  • Almost half of Londoners who voted cast one of their preferences for the winning mayoral candidate, and almost 90% had one of their votes count towards the overall result in the final round.

  • 86% of Londoners who voted, did so for a party that gained seat(s) on the London Assembly. Nearly 9 in 10 voters are now represented by at least one London Assembly Member from a party they voted for.

  • The number of rejected votes – and especially wrongly filled in or spoilt ballot papers – was much lower than in 2004. 4.2% lower in the case of the assembly ballots. Voters were not confused by the different ballot papers or voting systems used. Spoilage rates (excluding papers left intentionally blank) for the respective ballots were: mayoral 1.14%; assembly constituency 0.32%; and assembly list 0.38%.

Hopefully plenty of useful information for us all to use over the coming days and weeks. Download a copy and email it around.

Update:  The post-election report enclosed has received positive feedback from a range of academics, journalists and political activists. The report was also circulated to all London Assembly members and submitted to their elections review committee. Since May MVC has conducted meetings and discussions with a number of Constituency Labour Parties around London and also a few other wider ad hoc focus groups to gauge people’s feedback from the elections and what their experience of the different voting systems was. The responses have very much back up the findings of our report: namely that people generally coped very well with the different ballot papers and systems, and liked the proportional element of the Assembly election. The separate Assembly ballot papers were definitely a good move. However, a few people did comment that the wording on the Mayoral ballot paper was unclear, and were unsure exactly how to cast their votes. 

NB. Londoners' Votes Count was a special election initiative set up by Make Votes Count. As well as helping with voter education efforts prior to the London elections, we set up a website to provide more detailed information about the voting systems used, and make the connections between these elections and the current electoral reform debate for the Commons. We did outreach work; handed out leaflets at PCS (trade union)-organised GLA candidate hustings and at the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival; and appeared on stations as diverse as LBC, the Islam Channel and Sunrise radio to help explain the voting systems. The post-election report received positive feedback from a range of academics, journalists and political activists, and was circulated to London AMs and submitted to their offical election review committee.

Posted: 03/05/08

<- Older Newer ->