In the investigation into possible electoral fraud in the East Flemish town of Ninove detectives have seized all the proxy votes cast in Sunday’s municipal elections in the town. The East Flemish prosecutor's office confirmed that all the forms had been seized as part of the investigation in a statement issued on Tuesday morning.
However, the prosecutor’s office won’t specify how many of the proxy votes granted in Ninove are being investigated. The public prosecutor also did not confirm which party would have benefited from the suspected electoral fraud nor whether proxies issued for the far-right Forza Ninove list were being singled out for scrutiny. The investigation centres around suspicions that forged medical certificates had been used to obtain proxy votes.
At Sunday’s local elections 22,357 votes were cast. This represents a turnout of 73.5%. Electoral law states that each voter is only allowed to accept one proxy. It is as yet unclear how many proxy votes were cast in Ninove. Detectives have seized all the proxy votes cast for all the lists that stood at Sunday’s municipal poll. Candidates on four lists (Vooruit-Groen, N-VA, Positief Ninove and Forza Ninove) stood for election
Annelies Verstraete of the prosecutor’s office says that the investigation is in its early stages “All the proxies have been seized and they are being analysed by detectives from the Federal Judicial Police. It is still too early to draw any conclusions as to whether there was any electoral fraud. The prosecutor’s office and the police will examine whether any crime has been committed”.