Northern Ireland

Alliance Party lodges complaint over Derry and Strabane council election count

Former Derry Alliance Party councillor Philip McKinney.
Former Derry Alliance Party councillor Philip McKinney. Former Derry Alliance Party councillor Philip McKinney.

THE Alliance Party has lodged a complaint over the counting of votes in a Derry ward following last month's council election.

The party said the Election Petition was in relation to the counting of votes for the Waterside DEA, where former Alliance councillor Philip McKinney missed out on re-election last month by less than 50 votes.

Mr McKinney was eliminated after the sixth count, while his party colleague and former Faughan DEA rep Rachael Ferguson also lost her seat.

The election petition only relates to the Waterside DEA.

Read more:Who are the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI)? An explainer

The Derry Now website reported that Alliance lodged its petition on Monday at the High Court in Belfast.

The site reported it "understands a significant number of votes were not counted in the DEA, which may have affected the declared outcome".

An Alliance Party spokesperson said: "Since the matter is now in the hands of the court, it’s not appropriate for the Alliance Party to make further public comment," a party spokesperson said.