Easy as ABC: voters in England tend to pick names nearer top of ballot, data suggests

Exclusive: Where parties fielded multiple candidates in last week’s vote, those at top of list were more likely to be picked

Fancy your chances in politics? Then perhaps you should change your name to Aaron Aaronson or Aaliyah Aardvark, figures from last week’s local elections in England suggest.

A Guardian analysis of election results compiled by the website Democracy Club points to a striking alphabet effect. In wards where a party fielded three candidates, those listed nearer the top of the ballot paper – with a surname nearer the start of the alphabet – finished ahead of their party colleagues in 2,200 cases, or 65% of the time.