Few vote in Hills and Victoria wards

The lowest turnouts in the Island’s local elections have come in Douglas – where two wards were voting today.

Both were declared together - in Hills, victory went to Council Leader David Christian, who polled a 967 votes, well ahead of his nearest rival LibVan's Claire Wells, with Carol Malarkey in third place retaining her seat on the council.

Derek Lavery in fourth place, misses out.

Just one in four people in the district cast their votes.

In Victoria ward, sitting councillors David Ashford and Raina Chatel retained their places in the council chamber, with newcomer Kevin Oliphant Smith in third place, pipping challenger Falk Horning.

After David Ashford successfully defended his seat in Victoria - which saw less than 14% of people turning out to vote - he said a number of factors may have deterred people from heading to polling stations: