Is there an election or not? That was the question facing voters in England's most marginal council ward after Mid Suffolk officials were stumped by their computer system.

Now the Electoral Commission could be called in to look at how the Babergh/Mid Suffolk council team is handling this year's local elections.

The confusion arose on Wednesday night after nominations for the 34 council seats in Mid Suffolk were published.

In the Stowmarket St Peter's seat only the Green candidate's name was published - meaning that Ollie Walters would have been elected unopposed.

However it soon emerged that valid papers had been submitted for Conservative Richard Stevens as well - so Green Party celebrations had to be put on hold.

In 2019 the Tories won St Peter's by a single vote which meant they retained control of the council thanks to the chair's casting vote.

In another seat there was confusion about whether Conservative David Muller was standing again - in the end it was realised he was not, but he is standing for Stowmarket Town Council.

The problems caused anger among members of the Green Party who are hoping to win power in Mid Suffolk in May 4's election.

Current group leader Andy Mellen said: "This really is a bit of shambles. I've spoken to the returning officer and told him we are not at all happy."

His group is consulting the party headquarters with a view to asking the Electoral Commission to look at how the council is conducting the election process.

A spokesman for Babergh and Mid Suffolk said: “We are committed to ensuring all voters in our district have the information they need to participate in the elections on May 4.

“Unfortunately, the list of candidates published on our website on Wednesday afternoon contained two errors, but these were spotted almost immediately, we investigated and the information was quickly corrected.”

The spokesman added that the Electoral Commission had indicated to officers that it was satisfied by the way the council had dealt with the initial errors.