Candidates confirmed for police commissioner elections
SIX people will contest next month's election to be the next Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
The deadline for nominations passed on Wednesday night.
The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems had previously announced their candidates and two independent candidates - a retired Warwickshire Police chief and a 22-year-old recent university graduate - had also already declared their intention to stand.
But when the final list of nominations was published this evening, Thursday, it also included a UKIP candidate for the ballot that takes place on Thursday, 5th May.
The current commissioner, Ron Ball, has decided not to stand for re-election, citing his desire to spend more time with his family.
The candidates are:
- Philip Seccombe (Conservative)
- Julie Jackson (Labour)
- Nicola Davies (Liberal Democrat)
- Rob Harris (UKIP)
- David Whitehouse (Independent)
- Ben Twomey (Independent)
The first £65,000-a-year Police and Crime Commissioners were elected in November 2011 and replaced unelected Police Authorities.
Mr Ball was one of three candidates in 2012, narrowly winning the ballot over former Warwick and Leamington Labour, James Plaskitt, and retired Severn Trent Water engineer, Fraser Pithie, from Stratford.
The election used the supplementary system in which voters marked the ballot paper with their first and second choices of candidate. If no candidate got a majority of first preference votes, the top two candidates went on to a second round in which second preference votes of the eliminated candidates were allocated to them to produce a winner.
In the first round of voting in Warwickshire, Mr Plaskitt polled 22,308 votes, compared to Mr Ball's 21,410 and Mr Pithie's 20,571.
But in the second round, with the second choices of those who voted for Mr Pithe re-allocated, Mr Ball emerged as the winner with a further 11,821 votes, taking his total to 33,231.
Mr Plaskitt got just 2,892 second choice votes and ended up with a total of 25,200 votes.
The turnout was just 15.65 per cent.
In the 2015 General Election the turnout was 72.6 per cent.
Commissioners have a set four-year term of office and can serve a maximum of two terms.
