Deputy speaker election rules, from Rob Gibson’s Gallery News email

The ballot will be held in the division lobbies from 11am to 12 noon on Tuesday, June 8. Nominations may be submitted in the Lower Table Office from 10am to 5pm on the day before, Monday, June 7.

The election of a Chairman of Ways and Means and two Deputy Chairmen of Ways and Means will be by secret ballot under the Single Transferable Vote system.

Candidates must submit a brief signed statement declaring their willingness to stand together with the signatures of no fewer than 6 and not more than 10 sponsors. No Member may sign more than three nomination forms.

The list of candidates and their sponsors will be published.

Each Member has one vote, which is transferable.  They place candidates in their preferred order using the figures ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, etc.

The figure ‘1’ represents the vote and is mandatory.  The rest are contingency markings and are optional but allow the elector to influence the final result.  Members should therefore express preferences until they are unable, or do not wish, to differentiate between any of the remaining candidates.

The votes are counted with reference to a quota, which is the number of votes a candidate requires to be elected.  The quota is the number of valid votes cast divided by the number of places to be filled plus one (4 in this election).

Any candidate elected with more votes than the quota has surplus votes transferred to the remaining candidates in proportion to the next stated preferences on the elected candidate’s ballot papers.

Votes cast for a candidate who is excluded from the ballot with the lowest number of votes at a stage in the count are transferred using the next stated preferences on those ballot papers.

The Standing Orders provide that constraints shall be applied to the count so that of those elected:

two candidates shall come from the opposite side of the House to that from which the Speaker was drawn, the first of which will be Chairman of Ways and Means and the second, Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, one candidate shall come from the same side of the House as that from which the Speaker was drawn and shall be First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, and at least one man and at least one woman shall be elected across the four posts of Speaker and Deputy Speakers.

If a continuing candidate cannot be elected because of the constraints above, then their votes are transferred according to the next preferences on the papers.

The constraints will be applied at the count, so there is no obligation on Members to vote for candidates from both sides of the House, or for both a man and a woman.

From Rob Gibson’s useful Gallery News subscription email


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2 Responses to “Deputy speaker election rules, from Rob Gibson’s Gallery News email”

  1. Andrea says:

    “If a continuing candidate cannot be elected because of the constraints above, then their votes are transferred according to the next preferences on the papers.

    The constraints will be applied at the count, so there is no obligation on Members to vote for candidates from both sides of the House, or for both a man and a woman.”

    That’s quite weird mechanism.
    So if I’ve understood it well, members can vote for whoever they want regardless of gender and party.
    Then, if it’s 1 Con and 2 Lab to be chosen, the first Con and the first 2 Lab to pass the quota are elected. When the first Con is elected, all other Con are eliminated and their votes transferred according to their preferences. When 2 men are over the quota, all others men are eliminated and their votes redistributed. Is this correct?

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