Last week it was reported that the touch-screens of the new voting machines (pictured) had an unexpected influence on the outcome of the vote. When voters pressed on a party name too hard, they could easily jump to the next screen and inadvertently give the vote to a candidate on that list.

The result was that some lesser-known candidates ended up with more than the expected number of votes, and in some cases more than their better-known party colleagues. In the case of cartel lists, where lists are formed of members of more than one party – a common occurrence in municipal elections – the mistake might result in a member of one party being electronically favoured over a member of another. According to Antwerp judge Jacques Mahieu, the situation raises no legal problems.

Bourgeois said that the problem did not arise in tests carried out after the election by his department and by the company that makes the machines and that the auditor of the election, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, never notified him of any problem. In addition, he said, the screen display gives the option of changing the vote cast before the record is made, and the printed ballot can be inspected before it is posted in the ballot box. “I take it as read that people who vote do so consciously,” said Bourgeois.