NI elections 2023: Alliance Party in legal challenge for lost Derry seat

Naomi Long says Alliance Party members who were observing the count said it "had not been properly completed"

The Alliance Party has started a legal challenge against the result of last month's election for Derry City and Strabane District Council.

It is understood the party has concerns about the counting process resulting in an Alliance Party councillor losing his seat by fewer than 50 votes.

It has questioned why its candidate was eliminated when there were still about 150 votes left to be transferred.

The party has lodged an election petition with Belfast High Court.

John Cartwright, a self-confessed election enthusiast, spotted the issue as he scanned through the local government results in Derry and Strabane.

He then contacted the candidates in the Waterside DEA to flag up his concerns.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long told BBC News NI that she has had it confirmed by the council and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland that there was an error in the count for the Waterside ward before taking it to court.

"It was raised informally on the day that there was the expectation there would have been a seventh stage [count] at the election but it wasn't addressed at the time," she said.

"We don't know whether that changes the outcome but it does mean that the count was improper.

"The only way a recount can be done is to petition the court to reopen and recount the ballots.

"It's now with the courts to decide if that is the appropriate course of action."

Seat lost to the SDLP

The Alliance Party lost its two councillors in Derry City and Strabane District Council in the local government election in May.

One of those councillors was Phillip McKinney, who lost his seat in the Waterside by just 49 votes.

The last seat went instead to the Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) Martin Reilly.

But given the gap between the two candidates, questions have been raised as to why about 150 votes from two elected Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) candidates were not fully transferred.

Now that an election petition has been lodged in the High Court it will be for a judge to decide if the ballot papers from the final stage of the counting process should be re-examined and fully transferred.

It is unclear at this stage when a hearing will take place.

The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland has been asked for comment.

Speaking to BBC News NI, John Cartwright said he was surprised the issue had not been spotted at the count itself.

"I've always been good at mathematics and so the logic of how STV (single transferrable vote) electoral systems works in Northern Ireland is something that appeals to me," he said.

"I'm just glad that I happened to have noticed it otherwise maybe nobody else would have noticed and it would have disappeared into the depths of history."

On the surface it is just one of 462 council seats filled last month so why trouble a High Court judge?

For the Alliance Party it is much more than that.

Losing its two councillors in Derry and Strabane was a body blow for a party slowly building a power base in the west.

To that end the Alliance Party had only recently opened a new office in Derry.

Now it hopes this legal challenge will not only recover a seat but also provide a tenant for its new premises.