The recount of votes in the Waterside district area follows a legal challenge by the Alliance Party
By Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent
A recount of votes for a disputed seat on Derry City and Strabane District Council will take place later.
It follows an Alliance Party legal challenge in the High Court, relating to the result of the Waterside district area in May’s council elections.
Alliance councillor Phillip McKinney lost his seat by just 49 votes.
The party had questioned why its candidate was eliminated when there were still about 150 votes left to be transferred.
The votes which had not been fully transferred were from two Democratic Unionist Party candidates who had already been elected.
Counting is due to begin at 10:00 BST in the Foyle Arena, starting at stage seven of the count.
Image source, Google
Counting is taking place in the Foyle Arena in Londonderry on Wednesday morning
The Alliance Party had taken the challenge by lodging an election petition with Belfast High Court after John Cartwright, a self-confessed election enthusiast, alerted the party to the potential discrepancy.
He said he was scanning through the election results for Derry City and Strabane District Council when he noticed the issue and contacted candidates in the Waterside ward to raise his concerns.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long subsequently said she had it confirmed by both the council and the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland that there was an error in the count.
The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland said that on Monday the court ordered that the counting of the votes should resume.
BBC News NI understands that the Social Democratic and Labour Party – which won the seat – did not oppose a recount of the votes.
The Alliance Party lost its only two councillors on Derry City and Strabane District Council – Rachael Ferguson and Mr McKinney – in the election in May.
Counting 80 days after result
This will be an election count but not as we know it, happening more than 80 days after the initial result was declared.
Technically speaking it’s not a recount, according to election officials, who say counting will simply continue on from where things ended in May, after stage six was completed.
But while it only involves a small number of votes, it may not be a simple process.
A declaration won’t be made by council staff or the Electoral Office on Wednesday but will be left for the election court to make the following week.
That said, we can still expect the parties involved to comment once they have seen the final numbers for themselves.
Those involved in the challenge say it’s about upholding the democratic process, but they recognise that the final outcome may end up no different.
