When elections go really bad – Tower Hamlets

One comment to this story caught my eye as a really good point. It was this one :

Big deal. It took four private individuals, including one Ukiper, to risk bankruptcy in order to obtain justice.
Where were the electoral commission, the police, and Eric ? Truly we live in a Banana Republic.

Where indeed were the agencies of the electoral commission and the police? I am not sure the Secretary of State (Eric) has any particular role to play in law enforcement of elections, but if he doesn’t, who does?

The judgement of the Tower Hamlets case is a really good read. The police were certainly there on the day, and saw some of the petitioners’ complaints first hand. The sequence of events at Labour’s NEC meeting as reported in the judgement were fascinating.

The conduct of the Mayor and his team of supporters was atrocious. The false addresses, false residents, the interception of postal votes and the common form of “X” and differing writing of the date of birth to the signature on election paperwork all pointed to fraud.

The large grants to supportive organisations, the intimidation to ordinary voters at the polling station, the rotten campaign against the Labour candidate – all undemocratic.

And the tales in court of various witnesses that proved to be wholly fictitious …

Getting 101 spiritual leaders to write is also not permitted (I wonder if 1 local vicar would be OK ?)

But back to the main point.

It will be very interesting to hear from my colleague Cllr Peter Golds, the local Conservative leader and a stalwart in this case, exactly what representations were made to various agencies prior to the actual petition from the four individuals.

And who should have acted? They do need to explain themselves and collectively we need to ensure how it will get better in future.