On May 5, voters across the UK will vote to decide who the new councillors will run the local authorities.
In the last election in 2018, in the Barking and Dagenham Council, Labours won all the 51 seats, which are hoping to continue this year.
The Labours received a total of 74.4% of the vote share, compared to the Conservatives who received a 23.6%.
Since 2010, all the seats have been held by candidates belonging to the Labour Party, with the current council leader being Darren Rodwell.
Darren Rodwell, who has been serving since 2014 as the leader of the council, will try to keep his seat as a candidate for the Northbury ward.
As per the boundary review of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England which took place ahead of this year’s elections, the number of wards for Barking and Dagenham is changing from 17 to 19, while the number of seats remains 51.
The borough has been broken down into 19 wards, 13 and 6 of which will elect three and two councillors respectively, compared to the previous elections where the borough had 17 wards, each represented by three councillors.
The last time the Labours had opposition in Barking and Dagenham Council was in the elections of 2006, where the British National Party (BNP) gained 12 seats.
According to the Office of National Statistics’ mid-2020 population estimates, Barking and Dagenham have a population of 214,107, an increase of 1,201 since June 2019.
According to the Office of National Statistics’, Barking and Dagenham, mid-2020 estimated population was 214,107, of which 135,749 people are of working age, representing 63% of the borough’s population.
The electoral process will take place by multi-member first-past-the-post voting, with voters to have as many votes as there will be councillors to be elected.
The top two or three depending on the ward will be elected.
All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth, and European Union citizens), aged or over 18 will be entitled to vote.
In-person voting will start from 7:00 to 22:00 on election day, and voters will be able to apply for postal votes or proxy votes in advance of the election.
Featured image credit: Adrian Cable @Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Join the discussion