The vote for the London mayoral election 2021 and the London Assembly took place yesterday, May 6.
Polling stations were open between the hours of 7am and 10pm, with millions of people casting their votes in both London and across the UK in a number of local elections.
Current Mayor Sadiq Khan is running for re-election, with Londoners having to choose between a record 20 candidates in yesterday’s vote.
As the votes get counted, here is everything you need to know about the voting system.
London mayoral election 2021: How does voting work?
The votes will start to be counted today, May 7, the day after polls closed last night.
The votes are collected and counted in three centres across London: Alexandra Palace, ExCel and Olympia.
Due to the sheer amount of votes in London elections, the results are counted electronically.
Under the direction of the Greater London Returning Officer and each Constituency Returning Officer, the e-counting software calculates the results for the three contests.
The three contests are the Mayoral vote, the constituency London Assembly member vote and the London-wide Assembly member vote.
How are the London Mayoral results determined?
The Mayor of London is elected by a supplementary vote system.
This is when each voter has a chance to select a first and second choice on their ballot paper.
If a candidate receives more than half of all the first choice votes they are elected.
If no one receives over half of the first choice votes, the top two candidates with the most first choice votes go onto a second round.
The second choice votes of everyone whose first choice has been eliminated are then counted, with votes for the remaining two candidates added to their first-round totals.
The candidate with the highest combined total of first and second choice votes wins.
How are the constituency London Assembly member results determined?
The 14 constituency London Assembly members are elected using the first past the post system.
This simply means that the candidate in each constituency with the most votes is elected as the London Assembly member.
How are the London-wide Assembly member results determined?
The 11 London-wide Assembly Members are elected using a form of proportional representation.
The London-wide Assembly seats cannot be allocated until after the constituency results have been announced, to ensure the overall London-wide assembly better reflects how London voted.
The 11 seats are allocated using a mathematical formula – known as either the Modified d’Hondt formula, or the Jefferson method.
The formula uses the votes cast in the London-wide Assembly member contest and takes account of the number of constituency London Assembly member seats that each political party has won.
11 rounds of calculations then take place to fill the 11 vacant seats.
The candidate with the highest result at the end of each round is allocated the seat.
Seats won by parties are allocated to party candidates in the order they appeared on the relevant party’s list of candidates.
When are the results of the 2021 London Mayoral election announced?
While the count started this morning Friday May 7, it is unlikely that results for the London Mayoral election will be known until the evening of Saturday May 8 at the earliest.
A spokeswoman for London Elects, the organisation running the polls for Mayor and the London Assembly, said: ‘Details are still being finalised — but in the interests of staff safety, the count will take place over two days. This means the mayoral result will not be announced before Saturday evening, at the earliest.’
While usually the votes would be counted overnight and declared throughout the day after voting, Covid restrictions mean that the counting process will be much slower this year.
When are the results of the London Assembly members announced?
Similar to the London Mayoral vote counting, the process will be slower for announcing the constituency London Assembly members.
As a result, that will mean the London-wide Assembly members results will also be delayed, as these results cannot be determined until the constituency members have been announced.
The results from seven constituency seats may be declared this evening – Bexley & Bromley, Brent & Harrow, Ealing & Hillingdon, Havering & Redbridge, Lambeth & Southwark, North East and West Central.
The remaining seven seats will likely be declared on Saturday afternoon and evening.
These include Barnet & Camden, City & East, Croydon & Sutton, Enfield & Haringey, Greenwich & Lewisham, Merton & Wandsworth, and South West.
MORE: Has an independent party candidate ever become the Mayor of London?
MORE: What is tactical voting?
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