Local councillor Denise Johnston says several people have contacted her regarding safety concerns
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Alliance Party challenging Waterside result in local government elections in High Court.
The outcome of the local government election count in Derry City and Strabane District Council's Waterside District Electoral Area (DEA) has been cast into doubt.
A spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council told Derry News it was aware of a discrepancy in relation to the latter stages of the Count in the Waterside DEA.
They added: “Council has been liaising with the NI Electoral Office and the relevant parties with regard to this matter.
“Council has become aware that an Election Petition has been lodged on 05 June and at this stage, is not aware of the specific details.
“Council will continue to work with the NI Electoral Office in relation to this issue.”
On Monday evening, the Alliance Party confirmed to Derry News it had lodged an Election Petition in the High Court in Belfast earlier that day.
In a statement, the party which lost two seats in the recent local government elections, those of councillors Rachel Ferguson and Philip McKinney, said: "An Election Petition was lodged today [Monday] in the High Court in Belfast by the Alliance Party regarding the 19 May election count for Waterside DEA.
"Since the matter is now in the hands of the court, it is not appropriate for the Alliance Party to make further public comment."
Derry Now understands a significant number of votes, which may have affected the declared outcome in the Waterside DEA, were not counted.
The seven candidates elected in Waterside DEA were: Caitlin Deeney (Sinn Féin) and Darren Guy (UUP), who were elected on the first count; Christopher Jackson (Sinn Féin), who was elected on the second count; and Niree McMorris (DUP), Chelsea Cooke (DUP), Sean Mooney (SDLP) and Martin Reilly (SDLP), who were elected on the sixth count.
Philip McKinney (Alliance Party) was eliminated following the sixth count.
It now appears approximately 150 votes, which may have changed the declared outcome in the DEA, were not redistributed before the elimination of Philip McKinney, who lost his seat by fewer than 50.
Derry Now understands the error was noticed by a person in London, scanning through the local government results in Derry and Strabane. They subsequently contacted the candidates in the Waterside DEA to flag up their concerns.
The Electoral Office NI and the SDLP were also asked for comment.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
