I'm also very sorry that we have lost Cllr Russell, who always seemed to work very hard for the area. I hope he will want to/be able to stay involved in local affairs in some capacity.
It is nice that our new councillor is a woman, and I look forward to seeing her out and about, getting to know her new ward and constituents!
(I notice she is from Deptford - but I am sure that the local Labour Party members would not have selected her as a candidate if she had not been able to show them that she has the interests of this area at heart - unless she was a "paper candidate"?)
Perhaps Cllr Afiku would like to use the forum to introduce herself to everyone?
Sorry: correction of sticky keyboard typo: It's, of course, Cllr Affiku
Alphabetical order in multi-member constituencies is a real problem.
I'm sure Ms Affiku will be a good councillor, and I voted for her, but I wonder how far we are from people changing their name to Aardvark. I understand jurisdictions more familiar with MMCs rotate the order, though council wards have been electing people like this for as long as I can remember (and the one I grew up in had councillors called Boland, Brogan and Clark).
Also Sir Steve, with the surname Bullock was at the top of the paper too.
But seriously, the problem is not which polling system, but how many of them at any one time. There were three separate elections in Lewisham. I worked as a poll clerk last Thursday, and I won't tell you how many times I explained how many votes on which papers (3-2-1) and how the mayoral election worked. It was fine to take the time to do this when it was relatively quiet, but as soon as it got busy, voters had to fend for themselves and read the A3 posters to find out what to do. I am quite convinced that a lot of people could have been very easily confused.
I voted for John Russell, because my eyes alighted on his name first. Trust me to be different!
My seven year old son is an ardent supporter of the "birdie" party.
pretty close for 3rd place. 140 votes in it
Not as close as 4th and 6th place. Only 10 votes in it!
Final Lewisham Council make up (after several recounts in Grove Park ward) is Labour 39 seats, LibDem 12, Conservative 2 and Green 1.
I didnt choose to use my second preference vote in the Lewisham Mayoral election, but a lot of people don't realise that this is an option.
And if you want to protest by other than by not voting, then leave the paper blank, and quite a lot of people did that. I think thats what voters do in Australia where voting is compulsory.
For the trivia fans: the first half of the alphabet now claims 40 out of 54 councillors on Lewisham Council. There's just 7 after my name (Peake). And Grove Park now has councillors called Allison, Britton and Clarke
Alphabetical ordering by surname is a good way to get the best people to the top of the list. At least it works with any list I'm on.
Interesting that in Perry Vale voters have no problem understanding the system, having elected councilors whose names begin with P,T &W.
Clearly a superior electorate in this ward (or were we all holding the form upsidedown?)
The fourth placed candidate for councillor in the May election in Forest Hill ward has now won a by-election to become the new councillor for Bellingham. Jacquie Paschoud, a SE23 resident, got 1000 votes less than in May in Forest Hill but still took over 50% of the votes in the by-election.
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/893293...n_victory/
Coungratulations Councillor Paschoud!