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Mayoral petitions
You can petition your council to hold a referendum on whether local people should elect a mayor to lead the council and the community it serves.
Each local authority has an executive - a group of people who are in charge of what the council does. Depending on the local arrangements, the executive is organised in one of three ways:
- A directly elected mayor and a cabinet of councillors
- A leader elected by the council and a cabinet of councillors
- A directly elected mayor and a council manager appointed by the council
We have adopted the second option of a leader elected by the council, and a cabinet of councillors.
What is a directly elected mayor?
A directly elected mayor is elected by all the voters in the council's area to be the head of the council's decision-making body.
A directly elected mayor should not be confused with a ceremonial mayor. In many local authority areas a ceremonial mayor represents the area. (For example there are ceremonial mayors for the Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Lowestoft areas).
Why is a referendum necessary?
The introduction of a directly elected mayor is a significant constitutional change and so a vote is held to give all voters in the area the chance to choose if they would want this to happen.
In order to call a referendum for a directly elected mayor, a petition must be compiled which is signed by 5% of the number of local government electors that are shown in the current Register of Electors. This 5% figure is called the 'verification figure' and is published annually as a formal notice.
Our current verification figure is 9,705 and will apply to any petition submitted to East Suffolk Council before 1 April 2026. A new figure will be published in February 2026 and if it is less than 9,705 then the new number will apply from the date it is published.