Quarter of Peterborough residents vote for new mayor

Turnout in Peterborough for the election is 24.7 per cent with 33,201 votes cast.

The figure is an improvement on the first ever election for the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner in 2012 where only 14.8 per cent of the electorate in the county cast their vote.

The result will be announced in Soham this afternoon (Friday, May 5). The count begins at 12.30pm with the first result due to be announced around 5pm.

Voters were yesterday allowed to select a first choice and second choice candidate.

If any candidate achieves more than 50 per cent of first choice votes they will be elected. But, if no candidate achieves this then the two candidates with the most first choice votes will go into a second round and the other candidates will be rejected.

If people voted for a rejected candidate as their first choice, but put one of the top two candidates as their second choice, then their second choice vote will be counted. The totals will then be added up again to determine who is the winner.

The counting of second choice votes, if needed, will take place after the first result is announced at approximately 5pm.

The mayor will head a new Cambridgeshire authority with responsibility for a devolved transport budget, £170 million to spend on housing (of which £70 million is ringfenced for Cambridge), and £20 million a year for infrastructure.

The authority will include also include a representative from each of the seven main councils in the county (including Peterborough City Council) and a representative of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership.

One of its priorities will be to work towards setting up a new Peterborough University.

The seven candidates to become mayor are: James Palmer (Conservative), Rod Cantrill (Liberal Democrat), Kevin Price (Labour), Paul Bullen (UKIP), Julie Howell (Green Party), Stephen Goldspink (English Democrat) and Peter Dawe (independent).

The Peterborough Telegraph will be running a live election blog on its website today.

Visit www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk for all the latest on the election.