The Additional Member System is used to elect
the London Assembly Members. This system combines the First Past
the Post system to elect the Constituency Assembly Members and a
form of proportional representation, called the Modified
d’Hondt Formula for the London-wide Assembly Members.
First, in each constituency the votes on
the yellow Constituency Assembly Member ballot papers are
added up. Using the First Past the Post system, the candidate
with the most votes in each constituency is elected. If
there is a tie, the Constituency Returning Officer draws lots to
choose the winner.
If all Assembly members were elected in this
way, some parties or independent candidates, whose votes were
spread right across London, might not win any seats.
So next, everyone's votes cast across London in the
London-wide Assembly member contest (on the peach coloured ballot
paper) are all added together regardless of constituency
boundaires.
Then, taking into account the political
make-up of the Constituency Assembly Member seats, the d’Hondt
formula is used to proportionally allocate the remaining 11 seats
to the parties or individuals according to their total London-wide
vote.
The political parties have a list of up to 25
candidates. As they are allocated London-wide Assembly Member seats
they are given, in order, to the names on the list.
This voting system is used to
ensure the overall Assembly reflects how all of London
voted.
Watch our animated
guide to see how the London Assembly results are calculated