A TOWN council by-election was decided after a tie forced the two leading candidates to draw playing cards.

Cllr Gordon Stone won the race for the vacant Church Ward seat on Horwich Town Council when he drew a queen of clubs from a pack of cards after his Labour rival Cllr Richard Silvester drew a jack.

The initial count recorded that Cllr Stone had won by one vote but Cllr Silvester called for a recount.

The tie-breaker was called after two recounts yielded 384 votes apiece for Cllr Stone and Cllr Silvester, Bolton Council member for Horwich North East.

The Lib Dem victor said he was “elated” at the result after he was sure he had lost when his rival drew a jack.

The 61-year-old, who lives in Claypool Road, said: “It must be one of the closest votes in history. When he pulled out the Jack I thought I had no chance.

“The count officials came out with an unopened pack and shuffled the cards. Then he picked the jack and I could swear he was smiling because I thought I had no chance after that but then I picked the queen of clubs.

“I can’t really describe how I felt. It was elation, I guess, but it was such a close run thing.”

A total of 1,191 votes were cast including the final vote cast by the draw of the card. Two were spoilt or unmarked.

Conservative candidate Sue Baines got 252 votes, with Rod Riesco, Green, on 27, and Ben Watkinson, Horwich First Independent, on 141.

The new councillor currently works as an IT assessor and has been a long-running member of Horwich RMI Harriers.

But this is the first time he has entered politics and he hopes to highlight issues including the house building and infrastructure issues in the town.

He said: “I’m not doing this job for the kudos, this is a job to crack on with and I want to do what is best for the town of Horwich. I’m not a professional politician, people mostly know me because of my involvement with the Harriers.

“The big issues for me have been the building in Horwich and the lack of infrastructure. These are the issues I want to bring forward. And I want to bring back some honesty and integrity into politics. People I spoke with on the door are upset about some of the things that have been going on in Horwich recently. I think it is now just a case of cracking on.”

Cllr Stephen Rock, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Horwich, said he was delighted with the result but said it was time for the councillors to work together.

He said: “It was really close and I have never seen them drawing cards before. We are all very pleased with the result and to have it so close made it quite exciting. There are now three Lib Dems on the council but now we need to work together for the benefit of Horwich.”

The Church Ward seat became empty in March after Liberal Democrat Glen Atkinson stepped down.

He resigned in order to concentrate on becoming a methodist local preacher. In a statement following his departure he said he was stepping down as he had been unable to commit as much time as he would like to town council duties.