Following the local elections in May, a member of the public who works for the Office of National Statistics, noticed an error while checking the results of the poll online back in May.
He realised that the total number of votes was higher than was actually possible, considering the number of eligible voters in the ward.
Four months later after the Liberal Democrats had petitioned the court for a recount of the High Street Ward, the courts on the 8th September declared the correct election result. Liberal Democrat candidate Mahmood Hussain is now the new Liberal Democrat councillor for High Street ward.
The court confirmed that the Council had made a serious mistake at the election count on 7th May by adding 1,000 votes to the Labour candidates’ total.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Bob Sullivan, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Mahmood Hussain to the Liberal Democrat Group on the council. At last the people of High Street ward have the councillors that they voted for. The council’s mistake at the count should never have happened. It cost local taxpayers thousands of pounds in legal fees and deprived local residents of the representatives they voted for.”
New Councillor Mahmood Hussain said:
“It is an honour to be elected to serve the residents of High Street ward. I will do all I can to stand up for the interests of local people and make sure that their needs are not ignored by the Labour council.
There are lots of issues to take up, including the future of the EMD cinema, looking after Walthamstow market and local services and pressing Labour to come clean on its plans for the Arcade site. I will work with residents to improve safety and security in the area and to protect and improve the local environment.”
Mahmood Hussain has lived in Walthamstow for the past 27 years and has always taken a keen interest in the local community. He works locally and is a trustee of a Walthamstow based charity.
It makes you wonder, but for an eagle eyed resident this error would have gone unnoticed. What other errors could there have been?