BALLOT papers in a Glasgow City Council ward will be recounted today after it emerged hundreds of votes had not been included in the official count.

As reported by the Evening Times last week, almost 400 ballot papers for the Langside ward, where Labour, the SNP and the Greens won one councillor each in a closely fought contest, had gone uncounted.

The ballot papers were from Battlefield Primary School, which was used as a polling station, but they had not been entered into the final count at the SECC the following day, on May 4.

The votes were registered and scanned but not entered for the final count.

Today, at 4pm, a recount of the whole ward will take place – and the overall results could change.

Archie Graham was elected first for Labour, followed by Susan Aitken for the SNP.

But second and third preference votes and eliminations of those with the fewest votes then followed before the Greens won the third seat in the ward.

The missing votes could have an impact on that result, which saw Paul Coleshill, the city's LibDem leader, lose his seat to the Green Party's Liam Hainey, who beat him by just 80 votes in the first round of voting.

Mr Hainey was elected at stage eight, narrowly defeating the second SNP candidate Alex Hewetson by 120 votes.

It is understood that the "missing" votes would not affect the result for Councillor Aitken or Councillor Graham.

But Councillor Hainey could lose his seat in the recount.

George Black, the returning officer, said: "Obviously it would be far better if we were not in this situation.

"However, I am determined to ensure that everyone can have faith in the result so I am pleased that I have been given permission to recalculate the contest in Langside."

Mr Black and other senior officers involved in the count have agreed to waive their fee from the election to pay for the recount.

The mistake came to light when a set of reports were being made a week after the count.

Last Friday, representatives from Glasgow City Council went to the city's Sheriff Court to ask for the recount to be held.

rebecca.gray@ heraldandtimes.co.uk

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