Observers called in over post votes

Observers called in over post votes



By Jason Beattie Political Correspondent, Evening Standard
15 April 2005

The invitation to the OSCE Democratic Institutions and Human Rights coincides with new evidence that applications for postal votes have risen by more than 500 per cent in some key marginal seats.

The sharp increase comes despite fears that the postal voting system is open to vote-rigging. A survey found in Brent East, where the Liberal Democrats are defending their byelection gain from Labour, applications rose from 414 in 2001 to 2,528 this year - a jump of 511 per cent.

Another crucial marginal, Hornsey and Wood Green, has seen applications leap by nearly 200 per cent, while in Guildford the number applying for a postal vote has soared by 11,000 since 2001. There has also been a massive increase in areas with a history of fraud such as Birmingham and Blackburn.

Applications for postal votes in Birmingham, where six Labour councillors were found guilty of ballot-rigging, have jumped from 16,000 to 53,000. In Blackburn they have risen from 7,603 to 20,351.

The surge in applications will heighten fears the election will be tainted by widespread fraud.

The Crown Prosecution Service is already investigating 39 cases of alleged vote-rigging across the UK.

Concerns about the safety of the ballot box appear to have prompted the Government to invite the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to monitor the last week of the campaign.

"We don't investigate and we would not micromanage the police, but postal voting will be looked at if we accept," a spokesman for the Warsaw-based organisation told The Times. The Electoral Reform Society said the increase in applications carried the risk of an increase in fraud. "There has been a massive increase since 2001 and this raises both problems of potential fraud and logistical problems for election office staff," a spokesman said.

Despite doubts, all three main parties are continuing to flout election guidelines that there should be no "third party involvement" in the application system. Labour has been including postal vote application forms with a letter from Tony Blair sent to electors.

Applicants are invited to return the form by Freepost to Labour's HQ. The Conservatives have sent out similar forms asking them to be returned to a party office in Dartford. Although not illegal, such practices fly in the face of recent guidance which says all forms should be sent directly to the local registration office. (see First Post re Electoral reform Society)

In Tower Hamlets - which includes Bethnal Green and Bow where Oona King is under threat from George Galloway - the number of postal vote applications has risen by 242 per cent from 5,000 in 2001 to 12,120 so far this year.

It is a similar picture in Bexley where there has been a 390 per cent increase in applications. Orpington, where the Tories are defending a 269 majority over the Liberal Democrats, has seen the number applying for a postal vote almost treble since 2001.

Outside Greater London, Braintree, where Labour is defending a majority of 358, applications have leapt from 3,000 to 10,000. And in Thanet South, another Tory target, applications have risen by 219 per cent.



Muhammed Hussain, 61, from Logwood Street, Blackburn, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud local elections in May 2002.

He won a 685 majority in the elections for Bastwell ward on Blackburn Council. He is now in prison.