Supplementary Vote
A voting system where voters mark a first and second choice and second preferences transfer if no candidate wins outright.
The Supplementary Vote, restored for English mayors on 18 June under the 2026 Devolution Act, settled its first contest on 30 July when second preferences carried Bev Craig to Greater Manchester's mayoralty.
Last refreshed: 3 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why did second preferences decide the Greater Manchester mayoral race for the first time?
Timeline for Supplementary Vote
Sent the count to a second round for the first time in the mayoralty's history
UK Local Elections 2026: Craig wins Manchester in its first second roundReturned to English mayoral and PCC elections from 18 June
UK Local Elections 2026: How English mayors got the transfer vote backBackground
The Supplementary Vote is a voting system in which each voter marks a first and second choice. If no candidate wins outright, all but the top two are eliminated and their usable second preferences transfer to decide the contest.
Parliament brought it back for English combined-authority mayors and Police and Crime Commissioners from 18 June 2026, after several years in which these contests had been decided by simple plurality.
Greater Manchester's mayoral by-election on 30 July gave the restored system its debut outing, needing transfers to separate the leading two candidates once neither cleared a majority on first preferences alone.
Transfers settle Manchester's first contest
Voters in Greater Manchester's 30 July contest marked a first and second choice under the Supplementary Vote, the system Parliament restored for English mayors from 18 June 2026.
No candidate cleared an outright majority on first preferences, so all but the top two were eliminated and their usable second choices redistributed. That mechanism turned Bev Craig's 47.1% lead into a 66.3% win over Reform UK's Sian Astley, the mayoralty's first result decided this way.
What is the Supplementary Vote?
When did the Supplementary Vote return for English mayoral elections?
Why was the Supplementary Vote replaced by First Past the Post in 2022?
