The authorities in Rotterdam will not call new local elections despite the irregularities which occurred during the poll on 3 March.

The city’s outgoing council has voted to accept the findings of a committee which led an inquiry into the problems surrounding the election. It concluded the irregularities did not affect the outcome or legality of the poll.

The problems included more than one person being present in polling booths. On a number of occasions, voters were accompanied into the booths by relatives or friends who helped them fill in their ballots.

The committee says this happened as many as 2000 times, but that the result of the election would only have been affected had there been 5500 such irregularities.

The Labour Party (PvdA) and local populist party, Liveable Rotterdam (Leefbaar Rotterdam) won 14 council seats each, but Labour ended up with a narrow lead in the number of votes it won.

Liveable Rotterdam was initially demanding a re-run of the election. However, a full recount confirmed Labour’s lead, and the party has now accepted the inquiry committee’s findings.

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb of Labour has welcomed the fact that the original results have now been confirmed.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide