Thousands of Bristol teenagers will have to vote again after officials ordered a rerun of a third of the city's youth elections because of suspected fraud.

The embarrassing end to Bristol's Big Youth Vote came at the count at the Council House earlier this month.

Members of the UK Youth Parliament to represent the north and south areas of the city were announced, as well as representatives to Bristol's Youth Select Committee.

But the candidates in the east of the city will have to stand again because of a problem with the votes from one box at one of the 22 polling stations in that area.

Cabinet councillor for children, Peter Hammond, said: "Thanks to extra efforts this year, nearly 10,000 votes were cast by young people across the city which will help influence policies both on a local and national level.

"Unfortunately, elections will need to be repeated for the east and central areas and we'll announce details of how this will happen shortly."

The council later confirmed that the problem was with one box of voting papers and no candidate was involved.

The elections, in which 40,000 people aged 11-18 were eligible to vote over three weeks, involved 30 candidates. Polling took place over three weeks at schools and youth centres.

The polls, run by the city council's youth service, supported by the electoral services team cost £7,197 to stage.

Council spokeswoman Katharine de Lisle said: "The cost of re-running the election is expected to be minimal. There are no further print costs as there are enough ballot papers and posters left. DVD voice clips do not need to be recorded again. We are unlikely to have another big event to announce the results."

Tory councillor Ashley Fox, who last year won the votes of young Bristolians in an "I'm a Councillor Get Me Out of Here" contest, said the problems were disappointing.

He said: "It is unfortunate that these elections will have to be rerun but it is better to do it again and ensure it is done properly than for there to be any suspicion over the result."

Liberal Democrat Councillor Mark Wright, prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bristol South agreed.

"This shows the importance of care and thorough attention being paid to the way elections are run. It is good that this possible incident was spotted."

He said the youth elections were a good way of energising young people and encouraging them to become involved in politics while they were still at school.

Andy Hamflett, chief executive of the UK Youth Parliament, said problems at the elections were extremely rare. "This sort of thing has happened only three times nationwide in nine years," he said.

"Bristol have been supporting this process for years and have not had a problem before. But this shows the system works.

"Bristol have spotted a potential problem and dealt with it. I completely back what they are doing and I am looking forward to welcoming all the new members of the Youth Parliament from Bristol very soon."

UKYP elections take place each year, in every part of the UK. There are currently more than 500 members, who meet regionally every few weeks and nationally once a year. They also work locally with Mps, councillors and youth organisations.

The Bristol Youth Select Committee helps inform council policy on issues such as free swimming and bus travel for young people.

The successful candidates were: Letitia McCabe (North); Mitchell Player (South).

Deputies for the UK Youth Parliament are: Mitzi White (North); Jamie-Lee Coyne (South).

Members for Bristol's Youth Select Committee are: Nathan Heavens (North); Codey Monks (North); Shonnie Coles (South); Shamso Nur (South); Jade White (South); Emily Hodges (South).

Deputies for Bristol's Youth Select Committee are: Sophie Slocombe (North); Georgina Burrows (South); Levi Hodge (South); Beth Jones (South); Verriin Kaur (South).

The candidates for east central are: Sian Carvell, Amy Colgan, Hannah Crook, Jenny Davies, Jodie Dawes, Nicole Luckett, Donya Najeeb, Tamara Philips and Hamza Riaz.