Counting, certification and the swearing-in of a new chamber follow a timetable most voters never see.
Polls close at 10pm, the television studios fill with graphics, and by breakfast most people assume the election is over. In practice, the result announced overnight is only the first step in a process that takes the best part of two months, and it is not until the second week of January that the new Assembly formally sits, elects a presiding officer and begins the work of choosing a government. Here is what happens in between.
Night one to day three: the count
Ballot boxes from the region’s 412 polling stations are driven under escort to seven counting centres – the largest in the exhibition hall at Calder, the smallest in the community centre at Heddon Cross. Postal votes, which are checked and opened in the days before polling, are added to the totals. Each constituency count begins with verification: staff confirm that the number of papers in each box matches the number issued at the polling station. Only then does sorting by candidate begin.
Because the Assembly uses a mixed system, there are two counts. The 38 constituency seats are decided first, usually by the early hours. The 23 regional list seats, which top up parties so that their share of seats roughly matches their share of the vote, cannot be calculated until every constituency result is in. In a close election, that can mean waiting until the Saturday afternoon. Candidates may ask for a recount if the margin is narrow, and the returning officer decides whether one is justified.
Weeks one to four: certification and challenges
Once results are declared, returning officers send formal returns to the regional electoral commission, which publishes a certified list of members within ten working days. This is the moment at which a winning candidate legally becomes a member-elect. Until then, a declared result can in principle be corrected if a clerical error is found – something that last happened eleven years ago, when a transposed figure in the Ardle count briefly gave a list seat to the wrong party.
Candidates or voters who believe an election was conducted unlawfully may lodge an election petition with the courts within 21 days of the result. Petitions are rare and almost never successful, but they can delay a member taking their seat if the court orders a re-run.
“People imagine the job ends when the last result is read out. For us, that is when the paperwork starts. We have expense returns to check for every one of the 280 candidates, and every one of them has a deadline.”
Moira Ellingham, the region’s chief electoral officer, said candidates and their agents have 35 days to submit spending returns, which are then published and can be inspected by any voter. Late or false returns are a criminal offence.
December to January: talks, oaths and the first sitting
With 61 seats and no party expected to win more than 24, the weeks before Christmas are likely to be dominated by negotiations. There is no fixed deadline for forming a government, but the standing orders require the Assembly to meet for the first time on the second Tuesday of January. At that sitting, members take the oath or make an affirmation, in the order in which their names appear on the roll, and then elect a presiding officer by secret ballot. The chamber must then nominate a first minister within 28 days. If it fails to do so, a fresh election must be called.
The outgoing government stays in office in a caretaker role throughout. By convention, it avoids major spending decisions, new appointments and anything that would bind its successor, though day-to-day services continue as normal. Civil servants prepare briefings for every party likely to be part of a government, and the cabinet office runs a secure room in which coalition negotiators can see costings.
For voters, the most visible part of the process is over the moment the results come in. But anyone who wants to watch the rest can: counts are open to accredited observers, certified results and spending returns are published online, and the public gallery is open for the first sitting, with tickets allocated by ballot from the beginning of December.
