Council by-election candidate scores 0 votes

Four normal principal authority council by-elections this week, all with Lib Dem candidates hooray, plus an all-independent affair for the City of London.

That all-independent affair also threw up a rare ‘0 votes’ result for one candidate:

Elsewhere:

Thank you to Matt Mears for being the Liberal Democrat candidate, increasing the party’s vote share and moving ahead of both Greens and independents.

David Terrar was the Lib Dem candidate, putting the party on the ballot paper in a ward not previously contested; thank you.

Another ward with a Lib Dem after previous no-show on the ballot paper. Thank you here to Claire Pattie.

Ian Spratt was the Liberal Democrat candidate. Congratulations on the vote share increase and move up ahead of the independents.

For what all this means for the running total of council by-election results since the last May elections, see my council by-elections scorecard here.

These by-election results round-ups cover principal authority by-elections as it’s only those for which comprehensive results are available. But this week, this by-election at the town/parish/community council level did catch my eye:

Congratulations Adam Ward!

Understanding the opinion polls

For understanding what is happening in politics, by-elections have the advantage of being real votes in real ballot boxes. But the opinion polls have the advantage of trying to be a representative sample of voters, not just those in the places that happen to have by-elections. To understand the polls properly – and what they do and don’t really tell us – see my book, Polling UnPacked: The History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls.

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If you sign up for my daily email with the latest pieces from this site, you’ll also get included as a little bonus the full set of council by-election results each week: