THE fight for the Police and Crime Commissioner role is now a two horse race between Conservative candidate Nick Alston and former policeman Mick Thwaites.
The first round of counting has finished and reveals Nick Alston, 60 of Chelmsford, and independent candidate Mr Thwaites, 56, of Southend, are top of the pile.
The second round of counting at the election headquarters at Riverside Ice and Leisure centre in Chelmsford started at 12.55pm.
The police commissioner election is being decided by the Supplementary Vote system, which is used to decide the Mayor of London election.
Under this system, there are two columns on the ballot paper where voters must mark their first and second choice candidates.
Voters do not have to make a second choice if they do not want to.
The first choices are then counted and if a candidate has 50 per cent of the vote, they are elected.
If not, the top two candidates go to a second round of voting in which the other canddiates are eliminated.
The second choice votes of everyone whose first choice was eliminated are then counted.
Whoever has the most votes after this round of counting is the winner.