Thursday 13th May 2010
Ballot security ‘worse than Kenya’ - The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times Front Page
May 9, 2010
OFFICIAL election monitors from the developing world have warned that the British voting system is less secure than their own and possibly the most vulnerable to corruption in the world.
Lisa Hanna - MP for Jamaica
Observers from Kenya and war-torn Sierra Leone, who spent the past week in Britain, said the integrity of the general election was at risk because it was based on trust rather than proper identity checks.
They questioned the legitimacy of the result after thousands of voters were turned away from crowded polling stations. The observers were also shocked by allegations that the electoral roll was being filled out with “ghost” voters.Ababu Namwamba, an MP in Kenya, said: “The allegations of fraud and of voters being turned away threaten the integrity of the vote, especially in marginal constituencies where candidates have a majority of less than 1,000.
“The number of seats the Tories needed for an absolute majority is not that high - this could have made the difference. One candidate told me that the British system is possibly the most corruptible in the whole world.”
