What’s the magic number the parties are aiming for?published at 14:52 BST
Helen Catt
South East political editor
Image source, Getty Images
Of course, all of the political parties are aiming to get as many councillors as they can.
On each council, though, there is a magic number which they particularly want to hit: half the seats + 1.
That would give them majority control, which means they have enough councillors to outvote all the others.
In East Sussex, they’ll be aiming to win at least 26 seats. In West Sussex, it’s 36. A party would need to win 37 seats to take control of East Surrey and 46 for West Surrey.
It’s a bit harder to track in Hastings, Crawley, Adur and Worthing, as only some of the seats are up for election.
That means how many councillors a party already has, who are not up for election this year, determines how many more they need to win to hit that magic total of half + 1.
