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A council hopeful says he can prove 30 people voted for him - including himself - despite the election result saying he got no votes at all.

Paul Dennis, 45, who was standing for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, says his wife and father also put a cross by his name.

And he claims several other supporters have told him they voted for him to join Medway Council in Kent.

His no-vote result for the Rainham North ward was greeted by laughter after the May 7 poll.

The council is refusing to do a recount, despite claims from the TUSC that they have 'serious questions to answer'.

Paul, a train conductor who lives in Rainham, says he has evidence from at least 30 people who voted for him.

He said: "I was gutted to be honest. It was a bit humiliating, especially at work.

"Since then people have come up to me and said ' voted for you'.

"Your address is on the voting slip so people have actually come and knocked on the door to say they voted for me - about 30 people must have done that."

TUSC spokesman Chas Berry said: "We think it's impossible for him to get zero votes. He lives in the ward, as do several members of his family.

"We've had emails from people giving their ballot numbers saying they definitely voted for him."

The party has 21 days from the result to launch a petition, but says it would rather avoid the option to save everyone involved wasting time and money.

Mr Berry added: "It won't affect the outcome in Rainham North, but it does raise questions about the rest of the vote.

"You think, if that was wrong, what else was wrong?

"We're not suggesting there was a deliberate attempt to rule us out, but the counters were under a ridiculous amount of pressure.

"They were working before 10pm on Thursday and it ran on to gone 10.30am the following day. On Friday night they had 15 minutes break. They were exhausted.

"The council have some serious questions to answer."

TUSC candidates elsewhere picked up votes in every seat they contested - from 62 in River ward to 316 in Gillingham South - and the party got a total of 3,042 votes.

Medway Council chief executive Neil Davies, as returning officer, said: "I can confirm that having double-checked our records, the paperwork confirms a zero return for TUSC in Rainham North.

"Whilst I accept this is unusual, now that the result has been declared, I am afraid there is nothing else we can do to investigate the matter further as we are bound by the rules of election law."