ELECTION ADMINISTRATORS were in the spotlight yesterday for their handling of a leadership ballot in Britain’s biggest public-sector union.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis was re-elected last year — but his three defeated opponents are all challenging the result with the Certification Officer, the state functionary who adjudicates over union issues.

On its second day yesterday, the legal hearing received evidence from Electoral Reform Services (ERS) deputy chief executive Simon Hearn, whose company carried out the ballot under contract from Unison.

The complaints centre on allegations that paid Unison staff campaigned for Mr Prentis using union resources and during their paid hours.

The other candidates allege that emails sent by “Team Dave” to union full-time officials encouraged breaches of election procedures.

Copies of the emails were received in an anonymous package by candidate Heather Wakefield and subsequently reported to ERS.

Ms Wakefield, Unison’s head of local government, said on Monday she was “shocked” by the contents of the emails.

The union has insisted that staff were not acting during their working hours or using Unison resources.

At yesterday’s hearing, barrister Ijeoma Omambala, acting on behalf of the plaintiffs, grilled Mr Hearn on why ERS had not made reference to the emails in the returning officer’s report.

Mr Hearn said: “They were emails and that’s what we did, we read them.”

He said they were “campaign emails I’d expect to see from the campaign of a particular candidate” and “not startling in terms of what they contain, no.”

But while Mr Hearn had witnessed comparable practices in other unions’ elections, he said he had not previously seen anything like them in Unison.

Mr Hearn also defended the conclusion in the report that it would be “inappropriate whilst investigations are continuing” to adjudicate on the validity of complaints about breaches in Unison’s Greater London region.

A recording and transcript was published of a meeting in October last year in which then Unison London secretary Linda Perks briefed staff on campaigning for Mr Prentis.

Mr Hearn said the events were “highly undesirable,” but there was no evidence of a “systematic, widespread” abuse of procedures nationwide, and that ERS had concluded that the events could not have changed the outcome of the election.

The hearing was due to conclude today but, due to overrunning, a fourth day is likely to be scheduled in the new year.

ERS was not available for further comment.