What is the Supplementary Vote? System explained as Manchester mayoral election goes to second count

Politics
1 Aug 2026 • 2:49 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

What is the Supplementary Vote? System explained as Manchester mayoral election goes to second count

  • The Greater Manchester mayoral election has gone to a second round, with Labour’s Bev Craig and Reform UK candidate Sian Astley still in the running to succeed Andy Burnham in the role.
  • The by-election is using a voting system called supplementary vote (SV), which sees voters mark their ballot papers with a first and second choice, and if any candidate wins more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they are declared the winner.
  • That has not happened in Greater Manchester, so the top two candidates move to a second round.
  • The ballot papers of the eliminated candidates are counted again and if there are any second-choice votes for the two remaining candidates, these are added to their first-choice totals.
  • The candidate with the highest overall total of first- and second-choice votes is declared the winner.

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