Tag Archives: tower hamlets

Electoral Commission’s verdict: electoral fraud is not a serious problem

By Mark Pack | Published 17th February 2011 - 8:55 am

The Electoral Commission has published the results of its third survey of reports of electoral fraud and other malpractice, this time covering the 2010 general and local elections and for the first time including data for every police force. Commenting on the findings, Electoral Commission Chair, Jenny Watson, said:

There was some high profile reporting of alleged electoral malpractice around the elections and perceptions of fraud continue to be a concern to voters. Yet these figures do not support the more pessimistic perceptions: there’s no evidence of widespread attempts to commit electoral fraud, or of election results being called into question.

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Posted in Election law, News | Also tagged jenny watson, peterborough city council, rob hoveman | Leave a comment

Executive editor and news editor quit paper in storm over election smears

By Mark Pack | Published 19th October 2010 - 11:41 pm

Trial by Jeory has the story from the contest to be Mayor of Tower Hamlets:

[Expelled Labour member turned independent] Lutfur Rahman’s campaign does seem to have galvanised a section of the Tower Hamlets community and many, if not most, are certainly very angry young people who are fuelled by a fair degree of hatred.

That bitterness has been targeted in almost equal measure at the Labour NEC and the party’s official candidate, Helal Abbas … There are many in the Labour party who believe the level of vitriol is similar to that experienced by Oona King in 2005 when she was

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Posted in London, Opposition watch | Also tagged andrew gilligan, emdad rahman, forhad hussain, helal abbas, john griffiths | 2 Comments

When good intentions go bad: the Tower Hamlets Mayoral election

By Mark Pack | Published 12th October 2010 - 11:55 am

There are good reasons for having laws that require local councils to be politically impartial in their publicity work. The Mayor election currently underway in Tower Hamlets has shown, once again, the big problem with the existing rules (for English and Welsh councils).

The council wanted to include a 200 word statement from each nominated Mayor candidate in the latest council newspaper. With the option open to every nominated candidate, this would have been a fair and useful step. However, the restrictions …

Posted in Local government, News | 4 Comments

LibLink: Interview with Lib Dem Tower Hamlets’ mayoral candidate John Griffiths

By NewsHound | Published 10th October 2010 - 8:32 pm

Over at Dave Hill’s London Blog on the Guardian website, there’s a candid and in-depth interview with John Griffiths, the Lib Dems’ candidate in the contest to become the directly elected Mayor of the London borough of Tower Hamlets. Here’s an excerpt:

… Griffiths knows what he’d do if he won. “The main function the mayor has to perform is to be an advocate, a champion, for the borough,” he says. “In the present situation, with a government of a different political hue from that of the [Labour-dominated] Council, it’s critical that there’s someone there who can really stand up for

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged dave hill, john griffiths | Leave a comment

Controversy hits Lutfur Rahman’s Tower Hamlets campaign film

By Mark Pack | Published 30th September 2010 - 12:54 pm

The Tower Hamlets Mayoral election campaign continues to do its best to beat political fiction for implausible twists, witness the appearance and then disappearance of a disgraced ex-Assistant Chief Executive in Lutfur Rahman’s election film as recounted on Harry’s Place.

The Liberal Democrat candidate is John Griffiths, who you can find on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and how to help his campaign.

Posted in Local government, Opposition watch | Also tagged john griffits, lutfur rahman | Leave a comment

Labour’s Tower Hamlets selection nightmare

By Mark Pack | Published 25th September 2010 - 8:57 am

You select a candidate in a keenly contested election.

You then receive complaints about how the contest was run.

So you suspend the candidate and, er…, don’t rush through an investigation or recount the votes to find a new winner or put the runner-up in post but instead your national committee hands the candidature to someone else, without members getting a say in the matter.

Oh, and the original winner decides to stand anyway, but as an independent.

Welcome to the tale of Labour’s Mayoral selection in Tower Hamlets, as told over on Dave Hill’s blog.

The Liberal Democrat candidate is John Griffiths, who you …

Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged john griffiths | 1 Comment

Electoral administration isn’t going quite as well as it should…

By Mark Pack | Published 1st May 2010 - 11:20 am

First, the good news: all the reports so far indicated a strong surge in people registering just before the deadline earlier this month. The Independent has some further figures to add to earlier reports. Thankfully, Havering Council with its hostile approach to people using the Electoral Commission’s website seems to be very much the exception. Whilst its electoral division has called “ridiculous” the number of people registering at the last moment, other councils have welcomed the surge of interest rather than criticised it.

Then the not so good news…

Allegations of postal vote fraud: the scale of the allegations, …

Posted in Election law | Also tagged electoral registration, haringey, havering council, kensington and chelsea, northern ireland, postal voting, preston, vale of glamorgan | 6 Comments

Postal voting under police scrutiny

By Mark Pack | Published 30th April 2010 - 4:20 pm

There have been two further recent reports of police investigations into postal vote allegations:

Police to investigate claims of postal vote fraud in council poll
… A complaint has been sent by the Conservative party to Derbyshire police about suspected fraud in the Sinfin ward in the Derby City Council local elections – which will be held on May 6, the same day as the General Election.

The complaint involves concerns that a voter was approached by men requesting her to fill in and sign three postal voting forms in favour of the Labour party… (Derby Telegraph)

Police probe ‘voting fraud’ at Bethnal

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Posted in News | Also tagged bethnal green & bow, derby city council, postal voting, rob hoveman | 10 Comments

Tower Hamlets: Labour activist investigated over postal vote fraud

By Mark Pack | Published 8th September 2009 - 7:25 am

From the Evening Standard:

Police are investigating allegations of postal vote fraud by a London activist linked to one of Labour’s highest-profile parliamentary candidates.

The Met is examining an email in which Anisur Rahman, a Labour branch secretary in Tower Hamlets, admits “helping” a dozen voters fill in postal vote forms for the European elections.

Mr Rahman then told Rushanara Ali, who will become Britain’s first Bangladeshi MP if she is elected in Bethnal Green and Bow, that he was encouraging other activists to do likewise “for the benefit of the party”.

Electoral Commission guidelines ban activists from helping voters to fill in ballot

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged anisur rahman, postal voting | 7 Comments

Jonathan Fryer’s Diary of a Euro-candidate

By Jonathan Fryer | Published 3rd February 2009 - 10:04 am

Saturday
Most of the day is spent at the Keynes Forum Policy Conference at LSE, at which one of the sessions is specifically about the European elections, or at least the interlinked campaign themes of the economy and the environment. Both Sharon Bowles (South East) and Fiona Hall (North East) are MEPs who know their briefs intimately, which is reassuring and underlines the value of electing people willing to specialise in specific fields. But through conversations during coffee breaks it becomes clear to me that local activists are really thirsting for simply-worded, bite-sized Euro-items they can just slot into their Focuses. …

Posted in News | Also tagged CAABU, delga, diary, european elections, fiona hall, gaza, keynes forum, paul holmes, reinventing the state, sharon bowles | Leave a comment

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