Voting has taken place in the Deputy Speakers election
8 June 2010
MPs are electing three Deputy Speakers. The ballot took place between 10am and midday, and will be counted under the Single Transferable Vote system. The result of the ballot will be announced by the Speaker as soon as practicable after the votes have been counted.
The election process
Every MP will have one vote, which is transferable. Each MP will rank candidates for Deputy Speaker in order of preference on a ballot paper by marking 1, 2, 3 etc against their name. MPs can rank candidates both within and across different parties.
Winning candidates must reach or exceed a certain quota of votes in order to be declared elected. The quota is the number of valid votes cast divided by the number of places to be filled plus one (i.e. votes cast divided by three Deputy Speakers plus one)
If a candidate has more votes than the quota, that candidate’s surplus votes are then transferred to the remaining candidates in proportion to the next stated preferences on the elected candidate’s ballot papers.
If no candidate reaches the quota then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and their votes are transferred using the next stated preferences on those ballot papers.
The election rules state that:
- Two candidates shall be elected from the opposite side of the House from which the Speaker was drawn, the first candidate will be Chairman of Ways and Means and the second, Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
- One candidate shall be elected from the same side 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 all four posts of Speaker and Deputy Speakers.
If a continuing candidate cannot be elected because of the election rules above, then the candidate’s votes are transferred according to the next stated preferences on the ballot papers.
The Speaker will announce the results to the House as soon as practicable after the votes have been counted.
The Deputy Speakers elected will serve until the end of the Parliament.