Kenneth George Hutchison Ritchie (born 8 December 1946) is a British psephologist and former Labour and Co-operative councillor.
[3] Ritchie graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in mathematics, and then spent 18 months teaching maths in Tanzania with Voluntary Service Overseas during 1968 and 1969.
[3] His African interests led him to complete a PhD on Aston University's Interdisciplinary Higher Degrees Scheme (IHD).
[3] In 1976, Ritchie became head of International Service for the UK United Nations Association, a role he held until 1983.
Ritchie subsequently became UK Director of the Intermediate Technology Development Group, a role he held from 1994 to 1996.
[4] He was the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society from 1997 until 2010, and in this capacity, he authored an article voicing his opposition to First Past the Post in The Independent just prior to the 2010 general election.
Under Labour's landslide election victory, led by Tony Blair, there was an 11.1% swing to the party in the seat, with Ritchie again taking second place, albeit by the narrowest majority since the constituency's 1974 recreation.
[13] The parliamentary constituencies Ritchie contested have generally been safe seats for the incumbent Conservative Party.
[4] Ritchie stood in the Badby ward for the 2003 Daventry District Council elections, coming a distant second to the Conservatives.
[15][16] In May that year, Ritchie was a Labour candidate for Daventry District Council in Abbey North ward in the local elections, but was unsuccessful.