VOTERS in parts of Oxfordshire will have to wait to find out who their MP is at the next General Election — because of ever more complex rules for conducting counts.

At this year’s election, the acting returning officer for the Oxford West and Abingdon, Wantage and Henley constituencies, David Buckle, has decided to wait until Friday morning before processing voters’ ballot papers, instead of counting them when polls close on Thursday night.

One Oxfordshire MP branded the decision “a disgrace” and damaging to democracy.

But Mr Buckle, who is chief executive of both Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils, said his concern was to ensure the count was accurate.

He said: “In my opinion, the move towards Friday counts is inevitable given the ever more complex rules for conducting elections. I understand the desire to preserve the excitement of election night, but that is not my primary concern.

“Ultimately, I will be held accountable by the courts if the election count goes wrong, so I must hold it at the time that I consider presents least risk.”

He said the delay meant postal votes received late on polling day could be properly processed.

Henley MP Dr John Howell said: “It is a monstrous society we’ve created when we are happy to be beamed every up and down of a B-starlet’s life around the clock, but the fate of the country is considered unimportant enough to wait until the next day.”

No decision has yet been taken over when to hold counts in the Oxford East constituency, while the counts in Banbury and David Cameron’s Witney constituency will take place on Thursday.

The Electoral Commission said 64 of the UK’s 650 constituencies — many of them key marginals — had so far said they planned to count on the Friday after polling day, and a further 161 said they had not yet decided.