The Alternative Vote (AV) , also known as Instant Runoff Voting or Ranked Choice Voting - is a preferential system where the voter has the chance to rank the candidates in order of preference.
The voter puts a '1' by their first choice a '2' by their second choice, and so on, until they no longer wish to express any further preferences or run out of candidates.
Candidates are elected outright if they gain more than half of the first preference votes. If not, the candidate who lost (the one with least first preferences) is eliminated and their votes are redistributed according to the second (or next available) preference marked on the ballot paper. This process continues until one candidate has greater than half of the overall votes.
This system will promote fair competition in elections.