Councillors to vote on switch to Single Transferable Vote system for elections

Bruce Sinclair, local democracy reporter

A potential change to the way councillors are elected is to be decided at a special meeting of Ceredigion council later this week.

More than two-thirds of those who responded to a recent public consultation on the proposals are in favour of the switch.

All councillors in Wales are currently elected using a simple majority system, commonly known as first past the post (FPTP), as used in general elections.

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Rank candidates

Changing to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system would allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, letting them back more than one party.

If the move won the support of councillors, the size of every county council ward would need to be increased, with the electorate subsequently voting for between three and six councillors.

The potential change would also see an increase in election costs, initially estimated to be between £45,000 and £56,000.

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Consultation

In March, Ceredigion councillors backed putting the plans out for a public consultation.

For the change to be passed, at least two thirds of councillors (26 of the 38 members) must be in favour of it.

The consultation received 475 responses, 67 per cent supporting the STV system.

66 per cent of respondents who lived in the county supported it and 100 per cent of respondents residing outside of the county backed the change.