Complaints on election ‘given to the police’

Concerns over alleged electoral infringements in the May 2 elections have been lodged with the police.

Several complaints were made on the day by people at the Oasis Centre in Wisbech, which was the polling station for the Waterlees Ward.

In fact the concerns resulted in one of Fenland District Council’s most senior officers, Gary Garford, corporate director, attending the polling station.

The complaints arose out of the use of leaflets produced by the Conservatives that looked like ballot papers and had large ticks by the Tory’s candidates.

Chris Boden, Fenland’s new council leader, who was the Conservative election agent, confirmed the leaflets were targeted at Eastern Europeans and said they were only sent to those people who had been canvassed and said they would support the party.

He said: “It is quite normal practice by all parties across the country to do this, particularly when you have multiple votes.”

He also added that the leaflets had the legally required inprint on them.

A council spokesman said: “We take the matter of electoral integrity and therefore public confidence in the outcome of any election extremely seriously.

“We take proactive measures to ensure all voters are informed that they are free to express their own personal choice without fear of undue influence.

“In addition we reported to the police a small number of complaints that we received regarding allegations of infringements of electoral legislation. We’re not in a position to comment further on these.”

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman confirmed they have had an incident reported from the Fenland area.