About the elections

Police and Crime Commissioners were created in England and Wales by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, with the first Police and Crime Commissioner Elections taking place on 15 November 2012, followed by elections in May 2016 with the next PCC Elections being held on 7 May 2020.

The PCC Elections take place in 40 police force areas in England and Wales (excluding London and Manchester). Each area has one Police and Crime Commissioner for its police area.

In Wales, there are four police areas, with each area electing a Police and Crime Commissioner. The four Welsh police areas are:

• Dyfed Powys

• Gwent

• North Wales

• South Wales

The South Wales Police Area covers 7 voting areas: 

• Bridgend

• Cardiff

• Merthyr Tydfil

• Neath Port Talbot

• Rhonda Cynon Taf

• Swansea 

• The Vale of Glamorgan 

With a Local Returning Officer appointed for each of the above voting areas.

Debbie Marles is the Police Area Returning Officer for the South Wales Police Area for the May 2020 PCC Elections, and is responsible for the overall conduct of the PCC election including:  

• liaising with Local Returning Offices in the South Wales Police Area

• giving notice of the Election

• the nomination procedure

• encouraging participation

• ensuring that the requirements as to the content of the candidates’ election addresses and the procedures for submitting those addresses are complied with

• the collation of local totals and calculation of the result

• the declaration of the result

The Local Returning Officer is responsible within their voting area for:

• ensuring the election is administered effectively 

• the provisions of polling stations 

• the printing of ballot papers

• the conduct of the poll

• appointing polling station staff 

• managing the postal vote process

• the verification and count in their voting area

• transmission of the local totals to the Police Area Returning Officer

For further information about the role of a Police and Crime Commission please see www.southwalescommissioner.org.uk. 

The Role of the Police and Crime Commissioner

The Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for:

• Holding the Police Force to account

• Appointing Chief Constables and dismissing them (if necessary)

• Setting police budgets

• Setting the amount of Council Tax people will pay towards policing

• Setting out policing priorities for the local area

• Overseeing how crime is tackled in the area and setting aims to ensure the police are providing a good service

• Meeting and consulting the public regularly, to listen to their views on policing

• Producing a police and crime plan that sets out local policing priorities

• Deciding how the budget will be spent

Key dates

The electoral system

If there are two candidates standing at the election, the Police and Crime Commissioner is elected under the first-past-the-post electoral system, whereby the candidate with the most votes is elected. 

If there are more than two candidates, the Police and Crime Commissioner is elected under the supplementary vote system: 

• A voter can vote for a first and second choice candidate they want to elect.

• If a candidate obtains more than 50% of the first choice votes, they will be declared elected.

• If no candidate obtains more than 50% of the first choice votes, all candidates except for those in first and second place are eliminated.

• The ballot papers showing a first preference for one of the eliminated candidates are checked for their second preference.

• Any second preference votes for the remaining two candidates are then added to their first preference votes and the candidate with the most votes is elected.

Eligible Voters

To be eligible to vote in this election you must be:

• registered to vote

• 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’)

• a British, Irish, Commonwealth or EU citizen

• resident at an address in England or Wales (excluding London)

• not be legally excluded from voting

For more more information on who can vote, or to register to vote please visit the Electoral Commission website. 

Candidates and Agents Briefing

Date: Thursday 27 February at 18:00

Venue: Corporate Suite, Vale of Glamorgan Council, Civic Offices, Holton Road, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, CF63 4RU.

Informal checks of Nomination Papers

We are offering Candidates scheduled slots for informal checks of your nomination papers each day from Wednesday 1 April until Tuesday 7 April 2020 between the hours of 10am–12noon and 1pm–3pm.