Voters denied

The general disillusion with politics that has dogged this election

will hardly have been alleviated by the glaring evidence that, in many constituencies, this poll was administered in an appallingly amateurish manner, with some officials apparently unaware of the most basic electoral rules. Nor does it help an already confused election result if there is the possibility of some votes being open to legal challenge.

The consequent call by the Electoral Commission for a change in the law, so that the whole system is more flexible and more responsive to voters' needs, is understandable.

The problem in many cases, however, was not that the regulations were outdated, but that officials simply failed to follow them. There is little point in putting a shiny new system into place if it is merely going to be afflicted by the same chaotic level of inefficiency seen on Thursday night in cases where polling stations ran out of ballot papers, or electoral lists had not been updated.

Before letting fly with its criticisms, therefore, the Electoral Commission needs to accept responsibility for a system that has, in far too many cases, simply failed to operate efficiently. Nor is it the first time that it has come under fire. Following the last General Election in 2005, a judge famously denounced a postal-voting fraud "that would disgrace a banana republic".

So far, Commission chief executive Jenny Watson has blamed everyone but her own organisation for the widespread chaos. However, while she is clearly right that the system is beset with problems, she may yet need to accept that the Commission is part of them.