COLCHESTER Greens reaffirmed their control of Castle ward after Kemal Cufoglu ousted Labour councillor Steph Nissen – and gave his opponents flowers on election night.

Mr Cufoglu, 30, won 1,247 votes to Ms Nissen’s 826 to ensure all three of Colchester’s Green councillors represented the same ward.

The campaign in Castle ward was notable for an election leaflet which said ‘Only Steph can beat the Tories in Castle ward’.

Ms Nissen, who said she had not seen the leaflet before it was distributed, agreed it could be “potentially misleading”.

Mr Cufoglu, who came to Colchester from Cyprus in 2012 to study law at Essex University, said positive messaging the Green party endorsed was key to their victory.

He said: “We kept a positive message and talked about our work and achievements.

“I believe that the positive language and attitude made a huge difference and made us different from the propaganda that other parties might have promoted.

“People felt we were sincere, honest, and decent.”

Mr Cufoglu, who now joins Green councillors Richard Kirkby-Taylor and Mark Goacher on Castle ward, said he bought flowers for the other candidates.

He said: “I bought flowers for all our fellow candidates – I got Lib Dems cornfield flowers, the Conservatives nigella seeds, and honesty flowers for the Labour candidate.”