PARTY leaders and candidates faced an anxious wait to find out the final result of the Canterbury district elections.

Barton ward was recounted several times on the night but in the end the candidates agreed to another count on Friday, meaning a nail-biting extra 12 hours for everyone involved.

By the time all the other results were in, the Conservative party had 24 seats and Liberal Democrats had 16. The Labour party had seven seats, meaning the coalition between the two parties totalled 23.

Three seats were still up for grabs in Barton ward, two of which were likely to end up with Liberal Democrat councillors.

But the third seat in that ward was a close call and the whole result of the election depended on it.

It could have led to a majority of one seat for the Lib/Lab coalition or to an even more confusing situation of 25 seats for the Conservatives and 25 for the coalition.

Council officials refused to predict what might happen meaning everyone had to gather again on Friday to await the final count.