Election complaints flooding in

Sinn Féin Director of Elections Danny Power said on Wednesday that he had been receiving a large number of complaints from across the Six Counties about the volume of people being disenfranchised and at the general manner in which the election is being conducted.

"From early this morning complaints have been coming into our election headquarters from constituencies across the Six Counties. These have related to polling stations not opening on time, voter codes being written onto ballot papers and elderly people not being allowed assistance from close relatives to vote.

"More worrying however has been the steady stream of complaints from people who have applied for voter ID and have not received their cards. This is having the effect of wholesale disenfranchisement especially when taken with the massive numbers of people whom the electoral office has already excluded from the register.

"After this election all aspects of the current legislation will have to be examined and amended. The performance of the Electoral Office also needs to be investigated. Confidence in its ability to carry out its most basic functions is rapidly draining."