A Board of Deputies election result has been changed after it emerged that the methodology for selecting the winner “had been incorrectly applied”.

Gillian Merron, Board chief executive, emailed deputies today to inform them that Bernard Silver - and not Anthony Tricot, as had previously been announced - had won the by-election for a place on the International Division.

The result was changed after two deputies challenged the method used for the third round of counting the votes, which were cast using the single transferable vote system.

Ms Merron wrote that following the challenges, “a manual recount was conducted yesterday morning of the votes”.

In the same email, Jeromé Freedman, the returning officer, explained that the ballots had been counted manually, unlike past elections, which have used an electronic system.

“The software license is no longer available,” he explained, adding that “an alternative software programme which allows for paper ballots was found to be unreasonably expensive and also untried.

“I apologise for the error, now thankfully corrected, to all deputies and particularly to the candidates.”