Malone Challenges 2-Vote Election Defeat
The former MP and Conservative Health Minister, Gerry Malone, is
making a legal challenge to the General Election result in his Winchester constituency - in which he lost the seat by two votes.
Mr Malone says that, after getting legal advice, he has decided to
proceed by lodging a petition in the High Court, "seeking a recount or scrutiny
of the votes recorded as having been cast in the election".
The gist of his case is that some votes cast for him may have been rejected wrongly.
Mr Malone was ousted by the Liberal Democrat candidate, Mark Oaten. The result was the last to be declared on Friday May 2nd, after two recounts and a suspension of the vote-counting process.
"My purpose is to dispel, once and for all, the doubt surrounding the outcome
of the election and ensure that the result properly reflects the intentions of
voters," Mr Malone said in a statement.
A Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said her party would fight the action "very, very vigorously".
Mr Oaten himself said: "Two weeks ago the people of Winchester elected me as their MP. At that time the Conservatives accepted the result and I am astonished that Mr Malone is now seeking, through the courts, to overturn the will of the people of Winchester.
"Many people in Winchester will be saddened by Mr Malone's actions today and
will feel that he should have accepted defeat honourably."
Breach of the rules
Mr Malone's statement said the way in which the count had been conducted had been widely condemned as unsatisfactory.
He said that the first count did not conclude till 6am on the Friday and
indicated a majority of more than 200 in favour of Mark Oaten. The Acting Returning Officer required a recount, completed by 7.45am, which
indicated a "likely small majority" for Mr Malone.
Counting was suspended until 2pm "and only during the second recount did a
significant number of ballot papers emerge which were rejected for "want of the
official mark", in breach of the Parliamentary Election Rules, Mr Malone said.
"It is the responsibility of the Returning Officer's staff, charged
with issuing ballot papers to voters at polling stations, to ensure the proper
marking of ballot papers.
"It is my understanding that a majority of these void ballots were cast in my
favour and, had they been counted, I would have won the election."
Counters "exhausted"
Mr Malone said there were further grounds for proceeding with his High Court
petition.
"Counting agents from all parties were exhausted, errors emerged during the
second recount, and, in all the circumstances, it is impossible to say, without
further inspection, whether any ballot papers, in addition to those specifically referred to, were wrongly admitted or rejected," Mr Malone said.
He said he had not taken the decision to petition the court lightly: "I rest
on the principle that the result of the election should reflect the intentions
of those who voted. It is not in the interests of any of the candidates, or voters in the Winchester constituency, that the doubts hanging over this election remain unresolved."
The Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said: "Our first priority is to argue very strongly that a recount is not necessary because there were two recounts on the day of the election and on the day after the election."
She pointed out that another candidate had stood as "Top Choice Liberal Democrat" and won 640 votes.
"So we say that, quite clearly, the people of Winchester did and do want a
Liberal Democrat MP."
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