Monmouthshire's Returning Officer was forced to draw lots to decide the last place on Monmouth Town Council after the public vote failed to separate two candidates.

Voters in the Drybridge ward had to choose three candidates from a list of seven last Thursday (3rd May), with Conservatives Terry Christopher (372 votes) and Malcolm Jones (221 votes) being re-elected.

Behind them in the running were the Monnow Group's Stephen Davis and Tory Graham Pritchard.

The two were tied on 217 votes even after a second recount last Friday morning, so in line with Electoral Commission guidance, Returning Officer Paul Matthews decided to draw lots to decide the third successful candidate.

He placed two equal-sized folded papers, one with each candidate's name, into a large ballot box.

Mr Matthews took one of the papers out of the box and announced that Stephen Davis was the successful candidate.

His vote will be increased to 218 in the official publication of the election and should include a footnote to comply with Electoral Commission guidance which says 'following an equality of votes, lots were drawn and, as a consequence, an extra vote was allocated to Stephen Davis'.

Mark Williamson, of the Monmouth Party, narrowly missed out after polling 211 votes. Christopher Were of the Green Party picked up 182 votes, the Monnow Group's Ronald Sutton had 170 votes and Sian Damon of Plaid Cymru got 144 votes.

For the remaining Monmouth results, see this week's Beacon (9th May)