NO DOUBT all your readers who are voters have received a pink pamphlet from the Government about the police commissioner election on November 15.

I read it with interest and was pleasantly surprised to learn that local voters will, for the first time in history, have an alternative vote. The ballot paper illustrated has two columns, one for first choice and the second for second choice. The Government spokesman I phoned called it “a supplementary vote”.

I heartily welcome this tiny step towards genuine democracy. But curiously the pink pamphlet nowhere tells us what happens to the ‘supplementary’ vote.

I made further enquiries and learned that, when the first choice votes are counted, the two largest piles will be supplemented by the second column votes of the other candidates – if they are for either of the two most popular candidates.

In this particular election, with its expected low turnout, the people who vote for the four least popular candidates could have a big influence on the final outcome if the two candidates with most votes have roughly the same number. It is quite possible the person who comes a close second could end up elected, if he/she gets enough second votes from the four other candidates.

Unfortunately that is unlikely as party politics have intruded and probably the Tory candidate, whom few readers will have ever heard of, will get over 50 per cent of the votes cast.

To find out more about the six candidates in the Thames Valley region, phone 0800 1070808.

M HUGH-JONES M.A.,

Hon. Sec. OXPAG, Headley Way, Oxford