First Past the Post

How it works: Each voter's first preference is counted. The candidate with the most votes wins — no majority required. With 5 candidates, a winner can have as little as 21% support.

First Preference Tallies

Italian
35 (35.0%)
Chinese
25 (25.0%)
Mexican
20 (20.0%)
Thai
16 (16.0%)
Indian
4 (4.0%)

Winner: Italian with 35% — a plurality, not a majority.

Multi-Seat FPTP

Simply take the top N candidates by first-preference count.

SeatsElected
2 Italian, Chinese
3 Italian, Chinese, Mexican
4 Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai

Indian never makes the menu under FPTP — 4% first-preference support is always last, even though they're everyone's acceptable second choice.