Oh my goodness an election has taken place in England and Wales using a preferential voting system and the world didn't end :-O North Ireland and Scotland already use preferential voting for many elections.
A little noticed outcome from the Police and Crime Commissioner elections is that in 8 contests the outcome was changed by the counting of supplementary votes.
In Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Humbershire, Lincolnshire, Norfol, Suffolk, Surrey and Warwickshire the candidate with the highest vote tally on the first round was defeated on the second.
The overall effect was that the Independents gained 5 more posts (4 from the Conservatives and 1 from Labour) while the Conservatives won 2 posts where Labour had been ahead. Net result: Independents up 5, Cons down 2 Labour down 3.
The implications for the next set of elections (if there are any) are interesting. In several places the contest for 2nd place was close and if someone else had finished second they may have stood a better chance of picking up transferred votes.
Will the success of Independents spawn more independent candidates next time ? It might go either way but I suspect there will be fewer independent candidates, but they will be better organised and more likely to win. If there prefered candidate is eliminated, given a choice between a party candidate and and independent, in the current political climate and for these post most people choose an Indepent.
If that happens the political parties enthusiam for preferential voting might decline even more, but the public might start to like it and demand it for other elections.
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