EURO election fever has failed to grip voters in Burnley's most fiercely contested ward.

Just a month ago, a record 1,150 people applied for proxies - allowing someone else to vote on their behalf because they were out of town - as Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates slugged it out in the Daneshouse council election.

That figure has dropped to just 11 proxies as East Lancashire voters went to the polls in the Euro elections, said town hall election chiefs.

A council spokesman said: "We cannot understand why. You'll have to reach your own conclusions."

One Labour worker added: "Perhaps they have all come back from their holidays!"

The huge number of proxy vote applications - 900 of them were lodged by the Liberal Democrats on behalf of winning candidate Mozaquir Ali - amounted to more than a quarter of the electorate and sparked Labour claims of malpractice.

An official investigation into the allegations is still ongoing.

For the Euro polls, election officers have received just 245 proxy submissions for the whole borough.

The biggest headache for election staff will be sorting the giant ballot papers - each measures 53.5 cm X 19.4 cm under the new proportional representation voting system - after polling closes at 10pm tonight. The number of papers will be verified tonight and then held under lock and key until 9pm Sunday - the close of voting throughout Europe - when council staff will return to count the votes cast for each of the 13 parties on the papers.

The local result will then be relayed to the regional election office in Liverpool.

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