IN addition to voting for your Assembly Member next week, you will also be asked to pick your choice for the new South Wales Region Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

The Police and Crime Commissioner elections are taking place on Thursday and the Vale of Glamorgan has five candidates to choose from.

They are all in the running for the role of commissioner for the territory covering the Vale, Cardiff, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

PCCs oversee the local policing budget and determine the police precept, which comes out of your council tax.

They are also tasked with establishing a police and crime plan, setting out strategies and policing priorities.

At the polling station, voters are asked to pick a first and second choice for PCC from the ballot. If any candidate receives more than half of all the first-choice votes they are elected to the post.

If this does not happen then the secondary votes from all but the top two candidates are redistributed and the candidate with the highest combines total is elected.

The South Wales PCC candidates are as follows:

Mike Baker (Independent)

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Tim Davies (Welsh Conservatives)

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Alun Michael (Welsh Labour and Co-operative)

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Linet Purcell (Plaid Cymru)

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Judith Woodman (Welsh Liberal Democrats)

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