As a candidate at the recent local elections count I was surprised by the lack of seating for candidates, counting agents and guests inside the sports hall being used for counting the vote.

The staff counting the votes were all supplied with a seat but members of the public were not.

After being on my feet visiting houses for most of the day from early morning onwards, and particularly because I am no longer as fit and healthy as I used to be, I felt the lack of chairs or other seating was at the least an oversight, and to be honest pretty unfair. People ended up sitting on the floor  but not everyone can do that.

I managed to grab a chair early on during the count but was not able to use it through the whole evening. I shared it with others who were equally exhausted because of the work they had done over the day.

I think the local council should have taken into account the age and fitness of the candidates and their supporters. There were some quite elderly people there. People who stand for local elections are representative of the whole community. There has to be some level of fitness but standing up for 7 or 8 hours for the count is surely not feasible.