Almost 2 million electors will have the chance to elect the first ever Mayor of Greater Manchester as voters across the region go to the polls on Thursday, 4 May 2017.
More than 1,400 polling stations in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport Tameside, Trafford and Wigan will be open from 7am until 10pm for people to cast their vote.
Combined Authority Returning Officer Eamonn Boylan said: “This is an historic election to choose an elected Mayor of Greater Manchester. We want to make sure that no one who wants to participate misses out.”
The eight candidates standing are
Sean Anstee, Conservative
Mohammad Aslam, Independent
Jane Brophy, Liberal Democrats
Andy Burnham, Labour
Marcus Farmer, Independent
Stephen Morris, English Democrats
Shneur Odze, UKIP
Will Patterson, Green Party
The count for all 10 Greater Manchester local authority areas, and the declaration of the winning candidate, will take place at Manchester Central Convention Complex on Friday, 5 May 2017.
This election uses the Supplementary Voting System, which gives electors the opportunity to cast their vote for their first and second choice candidates.
If one candidate gets more than 50% of the first choice votes, they will become the Mayor of Greater Manchester. If no candidate gets this majority, there will be a second count in which the two candidates with the most first choice votes remain in the running and all other candidates are eliminated. The second choice votes of people who voted for eliminated candidates will then be counted and any second choice votes for the two remaining candidates added to their first choice totals. The candidate who has the highest overall total will then be declared the Mayor.
