Vote rigging scam in Whiteley

1.39.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 26th Apr 2008

'People in Whiteley have been badly let down' - Liz Leffman

Conservative activist and former Whiteley Parish Councillor John Hall has been charged by police in a scam to illegally gather proxy votes and use them to boost the Conservatives' local election results.

Whiteley is part of the Winchester City Council area, and is in the new Meon Valley constituency. Liz Leffman, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Meon Valley, said: "We have been worried for some time that there might be something fishy going in Whiteley. For several years now we have noticed an unusually high number of proxy votes appearing on the list of absent voters, but we have never been able to prove that they were gathered illegally.

"You usually expect to see a few proxy votes per ward in any election, but in Whiteley we regularly see more than 20, and sometimes it has been as high as 40."

In May 2007, Vivian Achwal, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Whiteley, narrowly lost to Conservative Mike Anthony by 19 votes. During the present election period, Whiteley Liberal Democrats kept a watchful eye on the absent voters list and spotted an anomaly. The information was reported to the Winchester election office, who passed it on to the police.

At the May 2007 election, the Conservatives maintained majority control of Winchester City Council. The Conservatives only held on to majority control of Winchester City Council because of the result in Whiteley.

Liz Leffman added: "People in Whiteley have been badly let down by the Conservatives, who refuse to do anything about poor road access and the lack of primary school places. If it is the case that the Conservatives boosted their vote in past by illegal means, people will be furious - and rightly so"