A Powys councillor has defended his decision to vote against adopting the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system for local elections, citing concerns over voter confusion and a potential loss of local accountability.

At a council meeting on Thursday, October 18, just 21 out of 68 councillors voted in favour of the change. 33 voted against it and five abstained.

The decision needed to be taken by councillors before November 15 to allow the Democracy and Boundary Commission Wales time to re-draw the boundaries ahead of the council elections in May 2027.

One of those to vote against adopting the STV system was Conservative, Cllr Ian McIntosh (Yscir with Honddu Isaf and Llanddew).

"After giving considerable thought to the proposal for adopting the STV system and having extensive discussions with my constituents, I concluded that I could not support this motion," he told the B&R.

"My primary concern lies in the complexity of the STV system, which many constituents fear could confuse voters."

Cllr McIntosh expressed fears that the shift to a more complicated voting method could result in lower voter turnout and reduce the clarity around how votes are counted. He argued that the current First Past the Post system offers clear and direct representation, with each councillor accountable to a specific area.

"While STV might enhance wider representation, it could compromise the principle of local accountability that underpins our current system. Moving to STV may shift our attention away from specific local issues to more general concerns, weakening the vital connection between councillors and the communities they serve," he added.

Cllr McIntosh also raised questions about the consultation process that informed the council’s decision-making. He suggested that the data submitted was flawed, with no confirmation from council officers that the public responses had been properly scrutinised to prevent multiple submissions by individuals. Despite his request to withdraw the consultation data, officers insisted it should be considered.

During a public consultation held between August 12 and September 30, 60.5 per cent of the 1270 respondents supported adopting the STV system, while 27.6 per cent supported First Past the Post.

"Even if the consultation results were accurate, they still showed less than one percent of Powys residents in support of the STV proposals. It was right that this motion was voted down," said Cllr McIntosh.

If STV had been voted through, changes would have been needed to ward boundaries.

There would still have been 68 county councillors, but the wards would have been changed from the current 52 single and eight multi-member wards to all multi-member wards.

This means the number of councillors elected in each ward would have varied from three to a maximum of six.