How to vote in the London elections

6.01.00pm GMT Thu 20th Mar 2008

If you are a Londoner, make sure you have a say in how your city is run. The Mayoral and London Assembly elections will be taking place on 1 May 2008. You need to sign up to the electoral register to have a vote.

To make your mark on how London is governed, you must return a registration form to your local borough's election office by 16 April 2008.

You can find a form and more details at this address:

http://www.londonelects.org.uk/registering_to_vote/registration_forms.aspx

For more information on individual Lib Dem candidates, visit:

http://www.brianpaddick.org/

Who are you voting for?

On 1 May 2008, London will elect both the Mayor of London and the 25 members of the London Assembly.

Why should I vote?

The role of the London Assembly is to hold the Mayor of London to account and look into issues that matter to Londoners. The Assembly operates by directly questioning the Mayor on his work and policy on a regular basis. The 25 members also have the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget. The Assembly forms committees on important London issues and publishes recommendations and proposals, which are put to the Mayor. If there is a local or London-wide issue that is affecting you, it will almost certainly be considered by the London Assembly.

How do I vote?

When you vote for the London Assembly, you cast your votes for the 25 Assembly Members under the 'Additional Member System'. This means that you will have two votes, for both a local Constituency Assembly Member and a London-wide Assembly Member on two separate ballot papers. There are 25 London Assembly Members, divided into 14 Constituency Assembly Members who represent different areas in London and 11 London-wide Assembly Members, who represent London as a whole.

The yellow ballot paper is for the Constituency Assembly member where the 'First Past the Post system' is used. This means that the candidate with the most votes in each constituency wins. The peach-coloured ballot paper is for London-wide Assembly members. This allows for a more proportional representation of London's vote, especially for smaller parties and independent candidates. These votes are simply added together regardless of which borough you are voting in.

Then, taking into account the political composure of the Constituency Assembly Member seats, the 'd'Hondt formula' is used to proportionally allocate the remaining 11 seats to the parties or individuals according to their total London-wide vote.

Am I eligible to vote?

Yes - if you live in Greater London, you are a British, Commonwealth or EU citizens and you are aged 18 or over

What are the Liberal Democrats main campaign areas?

Crime, transport, housing, environment

Who are the Liberal Democrat candidates in the London Elections?

The Mayoral election candidate is Brian Paddick. Other candidates are listed below.

London-wide Assembly candidates:

• Monica Whyte

• Merlene Emerson

• Duncan Borrowman

• Mike Tuffrey

• Dee Doocey

• Jeremy Ambache

• Geoff Pope

• Shas Sheehan

• Caroline Pidgeon

• Stephen Knight

• Ben Abbotts

Constituency Assembly candidates

• Stephen Knight - South West

• James Allie - Brent and Harrow

• Meral Ece - North East

• Brian Robson - Lewisham and Greenwich

• Monica Whyte - Haringey and Enfield

• Nick Russell - Camden and Barnet

• Merlene Emerson - West Central

• Nigel Bakhai - Ealing and Hillingdon

• Rajonuddin Jalal - City and East London

• Abigail Lock - Sutton and Croydon

Read more about the Lib Dem campaign at:

http://www.brianpaddick.org/