danieldwilliam | On the Unlock Democracy Elections

Starting my brief electoral analysis with the West Constituency, of Wales, South West and the West Midlands.

This election looks to have been over pretty much as soon as the first preferences were counted.

Out of 1,615 voters 22.8 % cast a total of 366 votes, electing 4 members and a quota of 73.2 first preferences saw 3 of the 4 councillors elected. Mary Southcott top billed with 99 first preferences followed by Eithne George on 83. Round 3 of the count saw the exclusion of Christine Herbert-Mosavie, who in an election with a ban on active campaigning failed to submit a personal statement and gathered only 3 first preferences. The final candidate elected on first preferences was Phil Starr, former Chair of Charter 88.

This left Alan Debenham and Philip Davis contesting the last seat. Debenham had out polled Davis on first preferences by 39 to 23. Out of a total of 43 redistributed votes he picked up 12.57 to move to 51.57 with Davis picking up 8.08 to move to 31.08. With only a further 43 votes up for grads Davis would need to nearly ¾ of them to catch Debenham and this proved too much for him. Davis narrowed the gap but couldn’t overturn it. Davis finished on 49.91 votes. Debenham elected with 64.68.