300 council seats in England have been guaranteed for one party or individual before a single ballot has been cast, weeks before the May 2nd polling day – affecting around 850,000 potential voters.
How? Nearly 150 councillors will win their seats without a single vote being cast, because candidates are running totally uncontested. They’ve already ‘won’. Around 270,000 potential voters in these ‘democracy deserts’ will be denied their democratic right of expressing a preference about who will represent them locally.
Parties or independent candidates have also been guaranteed an additional 152 seats through multi-member wards going ‘under-contested’ – i.e. where a lack of competition means that at least one seat in the ward is guaranteed for a particular party or independent candidate. There are around a further 580,000 potential voters in wards like these.
