Jeremy Corbyn, Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham
A deadline for people wanting to vote in the Labour party leadership posted passed on Wednesday after a last-minute extension.
Prospective supporters of the party, who can vote in the contest without becoming a member by paying a £3 fee, were met with a series of error messages as they attempted to register for a vote ahead of the planned midday cut-off.
The party subsequently announced it would accept applications until 3pm.
After earlier apologising for the “technical issue”, the party tweeted: “If you are trying to register as a supporter and are experiencing difficulties, the deadline has been extended to 3pm if you want to vote.”
The process to offer registered supporters a vote on the leadership became controversial. A number of MPs had called for a re-run over allegations that it was being exploited by hard-left groups and political opponents including Conservative activists.
Demands for a “pause” were fuelled by the surprise emergence of left-wing veteran Jeremy Corbyn as the favourite to succeed Ed Miliband.
A YouGov poll on Tuesday gave him a commanding lead while bookmakers installed him as favourite to see off the challenge of Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.
Some 282,000 party members, 92,000 trade union and other affiliated members are eligible to vote, but members of the general public can cast a ballot by joining Labour as a “registered supporter” for £3, with 70,000 so far signing up.
Labour said around 1,200 members or supporters of another party have already been excluded from voting in the leadership contest, including hundreds who stood against the party in local or national elections.
Voting will now get underway, with the result announced on 12 September.
