I WOULD like to say a very big thank you to the 19,294 people who gave me their first vote in the Police and Crime Commissioner election, the second votes were many but were not counted as we failed to gain 'contender' status with second place. If we had who knows ...

During the campaign I have been humbled by the support I have been given from people of all parties and none. I have spoken with the victims of crime, and those that feel that they have been deprived a voice, and to the disabled who have been abused and insulted for nothing more than using a wheelchair.

Had I been elected I would have relished the chance to do my best to help turn things around and build a better, safer, fairer and more tolerant society.

To the many policemen and women, the PCSOs and the Specials, some of whom who silently backed my campaign and want to make a difference, I say: "Be proud of your uniform, and for the job you do keeping us and our property safe, I'm with you all the way."

Concerning the election itself there were certainly problems. In Wiltshire just 13 per cent of the people who could, actually voted. In Swindon the result was higher at 33 per cent as there were local elections at the same time. I have personally never seen so many ‘spoiled’ ballet papers, 3,500 I am told. Around half of these were not counted because there appeared to be some confusion over how to vote, with many putting two Xs in the same column instead of a single X in the first column and a single X in the second column. There were, however, many others who simply wrote on the ballot paper that there was no information so how could they make a choice, and who could blame them?

As Editor you will recall that I wrote to you on April 7 to complain in my unpublished letter, entitled “Democracy by Website?”, that the 300-word election addresses that had been prepared by all of the candidates was not going to be posted to all voters, but instead only made available on a website, or posted if requested after calling a phone number. Very few noticed this small print on their poll cards and fewer still accessed this information. When I wrote to the Electoral Commission to press this complaint I was told that responsibility for this failure rested with the Cabinet Office.

A case could be made that this was a case of cynical gerrymandering by the Government. A certain proportion of the electorate who are predominantly conservative by inclination will vote ‘come hell or high water’, and so taking this approach would save money and get the result the Government wanted. Whether or not this was the intention, this was the result, and the Wiltshire Giant slept on.

James Gray paid me the no doubt ‘backhanded’ compliment in last week’s edition of my “magnificent dedication to the electoral process”. I would hope that the great people of Wiltshire would do the same, and that the Wiltshire Giant would awake and vote. Until that day, I and many like me will persevere, because we value our democracy.

DR BRIAN MATHEW, Liberal Democrat Police and Crime Commissioner candidate