It's totally unscientific, we know.
Lacking the resources, stamina, administrative skills and expertise to run accurate citywide exit polls across all Ward 11 polling stations, Spurtle has fallen back on its website statistics to see how many hits each candidate's 'Soapbox' statements generated.
On the assumption that most people wanted to read about the candidate of whom they most approved, the order of first preference votes will go like this:
- Alasdair Rankin (SNP) 33.1%
- Alistair Hodgson (Lib-Dem) 21.4%
- Iain McGill (Con) 15.6%
- Karen Doran (Lab) 12.5%
- Melanie Main (Green) 9.6%
- John Carson (Indep) 7.8%
There are at least two huge flies in this unconvincing psephological ointment. First, the rankings do not accurately reflect how well candidates performed at the 9 August hustings. Second, there is often a morbid satisfaction to be had from reading about the candidate of whom one least approves.
We shall see. By-election results are expected by lunchtime.