Rotterdam had no choice but to start a full recount of last week’s local council election votes, writes the Volkskrant in an editorial on Thursday.

A recount on this scale is a rarity in the Netherlands but it was the only thing to do in the face of serious allegations of irregularities at a number of polling booths.
The Dutch political system has come under fire in recent years but friend and foe agree that voting here is never anything else than a completely honest and straightforward procedure. To compare the Rotterdam goings-on with Kabul or Harare would be a gross exaggeration but they do merit a very close look.
There is a lot at stake in Rotterdam. The difference between Labour and Leefbaar Rotterdam is no more than a few hundred votes in Labour’s favour.
A recount won’t solve everything: it will be impossible for instance to check which voting forms were scored illegally. If this recount fails to take away the doubts cast on the election results, it’s back to the booth for voters.
It’s a decision with far reaching consequences. No election results are ever the same the second time around. People will inevitably be influenced by what has happened when asked to cast their votes again. Labour and Leefbaar Nederland could change places and Marco Pastors could be in the driver’s seat when the time comes to choose coalition partners.
But this can’t be an argument not to do it. The election results would remain under a cloud and the image of politics in general would suffer, a state of affairs which would do Labour in particular no good.
The fall-out has inevitably hit Rotterdam’s mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb who last week said the irregularities would not influence election results. Having to eat his words, the mayor ordered a full recount after all.
Aboutaleb has since decided to professionalise voting procedures. Bringing back voting computers would not only help Rotterdam but all councils. It will not prevent some people from voting illegally but it will at least make vote counting easier.
Three years ago the red pencil was re-introduced when it turned out the computers could be tampered with and votes could not be checked. Now that that has been remedied there is no reason why voting procedures cannot be brought up to date.
This is unofficial translation