Low turn out in Wakefield Council Elections

Only 28.94 per cent of Wakefield‘s electorate turned out to vote yesterday, (Thursday) in the local elections.

And just 28.84 per cent of people cast a vote to chose whether or not they want a directly elected mayor to run the city.

It is the lowest turn out in recent years with just one in four people casting a vote out of the 254,961 people living in the district who are eligible to vote.

In the 2011 local elections there was a turnout of 35.5 per cent, and 2008 32.28 per cent of people used their vote.

And in 2010 the turnout was 59.5 per cent but this was the year of the last general election.

There are 21 seats up for grabs on Wakefield Council, eight Labour councillors, 10 Conservative councillors and three Independent councillors are contesting the seats.

Wakefield Council is currently made up of 40 Labour councillors, 20 Tory councillors and three Independents.