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Damian Green: "Whenever you do something new, people in this country tend to be slow to warm up to it"
The first police and crime commissioner (PCC) in England and Wales has been elected in Wiltshire, as vote results are awaited in 40 other police areas.
Conservative Angus Macpherson was elected as Wiltshire's PCC ahead of the Labour candidate after second preference votes were counted.
The first PCC elections face likely controversy over reported low turnouts.
Among the first dozen or so areas to confirm turnouts on Friday morning, almost all ranged from 13-20%.
Continue reading the main storyFind your results
Turnout was 12.9% in Merseyside, 13.3% in Thames Valley, and 13.5% in Greater Manchester. These figures include spoilt ballot papers.
In Gwent, where turnout was 14.3% overall, one polling station in Newport was visited by no voters at all.
The record low for a national poll in peacetime is the 23% turnout for the 1999 European elections.
Analysis
Indifference and ignorance has stalked the contests to be Police and Crime Commissioners.
With turnout in the teens in many places, questions are being asked about the credibility of the whole idea and the mandate of those who have won.
There was a perfect storm for a low turnout.
Firstly, replacing something many people hadn't heard of, police authorities, with something many don't yet understand, police commissioners.
Secondly, asking people to schlep to the polling station on a miserable day in November.
Thirdly, the government deciding not to fund a mailshot to all voters with information on local candidates, encouraging people to look information up online instead.
But make no mistake. This is a very big change to how the police are governed. And removing the right to have a say - democracy - once it has been introduced, is very difficult.
Elections expert Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said there were indications of the worst voter turnout ever.
But policing minister Damian Green told ITV1's Daybreak programme: "The measure of this policy is not the turnout, it's what the police and crime commissioners achieve over the next few years.
"Millions of people voted yesterday - nobody ever voted for the chair of a police authority so there's clearly a democratic mandate that wasn't there before."
He said the PCCs were a new idea that would need time for people to get used to.
Labour's Chuka Umunna called the elections "a total shambles", suggesting the £100m cost would have paid for 3,000 police officers.
He added: "At least if you are going to have the elections, organise them properly and don't have them in the middle of winter."
Turnout reached 27.48% in the PCC election in Bristol, where voters were also going to the polls to choose the city's first directly-elected mayor, but across the Avon and Somerset police area as a whole it dropped to 19.58%.
Lessons to learnProfessor Curtice said: "It looks pretty likely that this will be the worst turnout in any nationwide set of elections ever and therefore will raise questions about whether this whole exercise was worth it in the first place."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a lack of "real choices" in an election made it difficult to persuade the electorate to vote.
PCC results on BBC News
- BBC News online is providing live coverage of the results of the police and crime commissioner elections
- We are also providing full results for each of the 41 police force areas
- See bbc.co.uk/policeelections for more
"The candidates were all saying, 'We want more police on the beat, we want to tackle anti-social behaviour, we want the police to be more efficient.' It is very difficult to find an obvious difference between them in terms of strategic direction."
In Wiltshire, where 15.3% voted - 78,794 people, excluding those who spoilt ballot papers, out of a total electorate of 514,855 - returning officer Stephen Taylor said some people had complained about a lack of information.
"People have emailed and contacted us saying that they didn't know enough about the candidates in order to be able to make a choice, and obviously that's something I have no control over," he told BBC News.
Mr Macpherson said: "I think it's incumbent on all police commissioners as we all take office to actually develop this job and let people know what it is."
By-election resultsMeanwhile, Labour has held its seats in by-elections in both Manchester Central and Cardiff South and Penarth, and is hopeful of taking a seat from the Conservatives in Corby.
What will police commissioners do?
- PCCs will be responsible for appointing chief constables
- They will set local policing priorities and report annually on progress
- They will set the force budget and community safety grants
- They will be overseen by police and crime panels
- See our Q&A for more details
In the Manchester Central parliamentary by-election, Labour candidate Lucy Powell (11,507) won with a majority of 9,936. Liberal Democrat Marc Ramsbottom (1,571) came second and Conservative Matthew Sephton (754) came in third.
The turnout of 18.16% is believed to be the lowest in a UK parliamentary by-election since World War II.
Ms Powell said: "With this result Manchester Central has sent this Tory-Lib Dem government a message - a clear message that we think their policies are wrong and unfair."
In Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour's Stephen Doughty won with 9,193 votes, Conservative Craig Williams came second with 3,859 and Lib Dem Bablin Molik was third with 2,103. Labour's majority was 5,334 and the turnout was 25.65%.
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Residents of Wiltshire tell the BBC's Jon Kay why they did, and didn't, vote
Mr Doughty said his victory was a "condemnation" of the policies and priorities of the Westminster government.
The result in the Corby by-election, which is seen as a crucial mid-term test of David Cameron's premiership, is expected at about 14:30 GMT.
If Labour wins, it would be the first time in 15 years the party has taken a Tory seat at a by-election.
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