| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"Cultural" and Postal Voting, HUGE potential for Electoral Fraud. | |
| Posted by: | Vlod Barchuk | |
| Date/Time: | 02/04/21 11:06:00 |
| Rosco is being unusually circumspect in talking about ‘cultural’ issues. We all know (but won’t say) that there has been a particular problem with electoral fraud by certain Asian politicians relying on the support of close family/kinship/religious ties. The biggest examples were the conviction of six Asian councillors for postal vote fraud in Birmingham (see https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/councillors-guilty-postal-votes-fraud-would-shame-banana-republic-5350422.html) and Lutfur Rahman in Tower Hamlets who practiced a culture of cronyism, using patronage to his largely Bangladeshi friends to maintain his political power base, before his conviction for electoral fraud. Of course, electoral fraud is not limited to any one cultural or ethnic group but there’s no doubt it is unevenly distributed. The Electoral Commission produced a report in 2014 where they identified 16 areas with a greater risk of cases of alleged electoral fraud being reported (Ealing was not one of them), and they acknowledged that these areas “are also often home to communities with a diverse range of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds”. They go on to state that they “have begun further work to identify relevant evidence in order to help address concerns about the vulnerability of some South Asian communities, specifically those with roots in parts of Pakistan or Bangladesh, to electoral fraud” (you can read the Electoral Commission report here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/Electoral-fraud-review-final-report.pdf). A feminist might note that strongly patriarchal cultures seem more prone to this type of behaviour – and most of the people convicted of it are men. Richard Mawrey, a QC who tries electoral fraud cases, has called for postal voting on demand to be scrapped because of the risk of fraud (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26520836); you’ll note the article I reference is on the BBC (not The Sun or Daily Mail). Will you take it seriously now? |