The election will use a supplementary vote system, in which voters express a first and a second preference for candidates.
If a candidate receives more than 50% of the first preference vote, that candidate wins.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of first preference votes, the top two candidates proceed to a second round and all other candidates are eliminated.
The first preference votes for the remaining two candidates stand in the final count.
Voters' ballots whose first and second preference candidates are eliminated are discarded.
Voters whose first preference candidates have been eliminated and whose second preference candidate is one of the top two have their second preference votes added to that candidate's count.
This means that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters who expressed a preference among the top two. All registered electors living in Greater Manchester aged 18 or over on 7 May 2020 will be entitled to vote in the mayoral election. Those who are temporarily away from Greater Manchester will also be entitled to vote in the mayoral election. The deadline to register to vote in the election will be announced nearer the election.
Laura Evans, a former Trafford councillor and parliamentary candidate, was selected as the Conservative candidate in February 2020. As an executive member on Trafford Council, Evans received the 'Employer Supported Policing Award' for generous changes to officers' paid leave and, in 2014, received a Hero's award for community work.
, the incumbent mayor and former shadow home secretary, announced his intention to seek re-election as mayor of Greater Manchester for the Labour Party in January 2020. Andrew Burnham was the key figure in the introduction of an annual charge on old age pensioners who wished to use their travel passes on Trains and Trams within Greater Manchester |url= https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/town-hall-leaders-agree-10-16670401
Andy Kelly, councillor and leader of the Liberal Democrats group in Rochdale, was confirmed as the Liberal Democrats candidate on 17 August following a vote by Liberal Democrat members in Greater Manchester.
Campaign
The incumbent mayor Andy Burnham pledged to take the bus services of Greater Manchester into public ownership, establish an integrated ticket system for all buses and Metrolinktrams, make the city-region carbon neutral by 2038 and build 30,000 social homes over the next decade. The BBC has noted that should the metro mayor take the buses back into public ownership it would be the first place outside of London to do so.
