Village council elections were held in the past weeks throughout the country. Most of the villages were hotly contested and both parties at one point or the other claimed the upper hand. The interesting element this time round was the number of independent slates that contested the vote. According to a release from the governing party, the U.D.P. won slam dunk in one hundred and twenty eight villages of the one hundred and ninety, a number which the P.U.P. is disputing and says it is inflated. According to the U.D.P., seventeen villages were won by independent slates. Earlier today, we are told, the P.U.P. appeared before the Chief Elections Officer to protest the results of the elections in the villages of Independence and Billy White while the U.D.P. protested the results in Palmar. In the case of the latter, it was thrown out but we are told a decision is pending for Independence and Billy White.

Channel 7