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modeller, a general elecion is political, most people voting for the party they prefer on the day, rather than the individual, in the hope that that party's policies will be carried out in government.Then it makes sense for the party to be shown on the ballot paper. Here, it did not.
This election was to choose the person most suitable to being the totally impartial overseer of the police force for the area. The policy of any political party should, by definition, not be part of that and the political affiliation, if any, of any candidate, immaterial. Putting the party on the paper may result in the purpose of the vote being ignored and the voter choosing to take the opportunity of showing support for, or protesting against, the government. It seems unlikely that the majority of areas, as shown by the rsults, had the best individual for the job being the man or woman selected as a party's candidate, or that the one chosen's vote, by pure chance, happened to represent the voting pattern shown nationally in political opinion polls.