Overview
- Vote counting began Friday morning at Co‑op Live after more than two million people voted in a by‑election to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor.
- Labour’s Bev Craig entered the count as the clear frontrunner in pre‑vote polls and carries an endorsement from Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
- The contest uses the reinstated supplementary vote system so a second‑round redistribution of second preferences will be held if no candidate wins over 50% of first preferences.
- Seven candidates stood across the ten boroughs, with Reform and the Greens seen as the principal challengers and smaller parties and independents expected to be eliminated before any second count.
- The winner will inherit control of transport, policing, housing and regional budgets in Greater Manchester and the result is widely viewed as a first electoral barometer of Burnham’s national standing.