The municipality of Celles in Hainaut has annulled the results of local election results on 13 October. Residents will have to vote again.
The Local Elections Council has annulled the election results in Celles, a municipality of 6,000 people in Hainaut, Wallonia.
The Liste du Bourgmestre (LB) of outgoing mayor Michaël Busine lost its majority by just 17 votes on 13 October. Francophone centrists Les Engagés then formed a coalition with local list Celles Demain. Together they have nine seats while the LB has eight.
The LB and another local list, Celles Moment (which did not win any seats), appealed the results together after discovering around 40 errors made at voting booths. These included incorrect signatures or erased details on voting cards and missing documents.
The Council has conceded that "a number of votes tainted by irregularity" may have impacted the election outcome given that the results were so close. The body says that 22 out of 218 proxy votes did not meet legal requirements.
The Walloon Public Service (SPW) is in agreement. Based on the SPW's advice, the results have been annulled.
A second round of voting must take place within 50 days of the annulment, and another election is expected to take place in early January.
However, if either Les Engagés or Celles Demain appeal the annulment, voting might not occur until March.
