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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.”

Marie Marilyn Jalloh, an MP from Sierra Leone, said: “There has to be doubt over the legitimacy of the result. Where people have been disenfranchised or cases of fraud are found there should be another vote. In my country this would be very controversial. “Your system is a recipe for corruption; it was a massive shock when I saw you didn’t need any identification to vote. In Sierra Leone you need an identity card and also to give your fingerprint. Here you need nothing. In this respect, our own system is more secure than yours.”

Lisa Hanna, an MP from Jamaica who won Miss World in 1993, said: “I was shocked by the lack of checks.”

Namwamba, Jalloh and Hanna are part of an 11-strong observation team from Commonwealth countries including Bangladesh, Malaysia and Nigeria.