Choosing the London Mayor

By Ashok Argent-Katwala

London votes today in its local elections, electing the Mayor and London Assembly.

By any account the race between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson is very close, with the polls and bookies making Johnson the favourite, but not by a massive margin.

Each voter gets two choices for Mayor, with the second votes being used for candidates that are not in the top two based on the first choices.

This 'simpler' version of expressing preference is actual a little subtle, and in a race where second preferences are likely to be crucial, I fear we're going to get quite a lot of wasted votes.

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Rather than the more usual ranking system used in STV, where you rank all the candidates, numbering 1, 2, 3…, you just get one chance at reallocating your vote.

This means that instead of choosing your next favourite candidate, if you want your vote to count you must pick between the top two, on the assumption that your favourite isn't one of them.

This makes Ken's pact with the Greens a little odd. On the face of it, it is quite fair and balanced. Both candidates ask their supporters to vote for the other as second choice. However, for that to be a rational choice for a Livingstone supporter you would have to believe that if Ken finishes at least third, then Siân Berry will be in the top two.

Maybe the Ken camp are assuming the likelihood of finishing third (or worse) are so small, it doesn't matter about those potential wasted votes, while the pact will pick up useful Green second preferences.

What the second preferences really mean is that every London voter should be choosing between Boris and Ken, because if they're not your first choice, one of them should be your second.

So, Boris or Ken? For me, this is an easy choice. I'm scared by the prospect of Boris-the-loveable-buffoon being elected, when we'll get Boris-the-reactionary-throwback in office. London is a wonderful, diverse city and Boris simply doesn't reflect that, to me. Please don't elect the clown-bigot who can't count (YouTube video of Boris vs. Paxman on the cost of his bus plan).