Second round needed in Police and Crime Commissioner elections after Alison Hernandez falls short of first round majority

Alison Hernandez and Gareth Derrick will once again face off in a second round of voting for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly.

Ballots begun to be counted at 9:30am on Monday, but it was nearly nine hours later due to a 'discrepancy' in Cornwall when the first round was declared.

Hernandez, the Conservative candidate, fell agonisingly short of winning in the first round, getting 49.97 percent of the votes.

Derrick, the Labour candidate, came second, as he did in 2016, with Brian Blake of the Liberal Democrats in third and Stuart Jackson of the Green Party in fourth.

Second preference votes for Blake and Jackson will now be counted and added to the totals that Hernandez and Derrick gained in round one.

The first round vote:

Brian Blake (Lib Dem) – 88,318

Gareth Derrick (Labour) – 99,894

Alison Hernandez (Conservatives) – 247,173

Stuart Jackson (Green) – 59,242

Turnout was up in 2016 – 36.7 percent compared to 22.1 percent – although slightly impacted by the fact there were only elections in Exeter and Plymouth taking place at the same time five years ago.

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