COUNCILLOR David Walker and Councillor Dilwar Ali were nominated last night as the only candidates for Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Cardiff. The current Lord Mayor is Coun Margaret Jones, who chaired her last meeting of Cardiff Council last night.
The Lord Mayor chairs meetings and must remain politically neutral during his or her year in office. Some councillors raised a call for Cardiff to adopt an elected mayor system like in London.
Coun Neil McEvoy said: “I have turned to the idea of an elected mayor out of exasperation with the current regime.I think the government in Cardiff is broken and undemocratic, and it is time to have a debate.
“We should have someone putting forward a program they want to carry out and it should be up to the people to decide if they think it is a good idea. “If the mayor is of a different political leaning to the rest of the council you will have difficulties, it will still be better than now. I will be organising a petition with other councillors and members of the public after the election.”
Coun Jayne Cowan said: “I think it is something which should be considered. It would need a cross party group of people to see if there is an appetite for it and then put it to a public vote.”
