The investigation into electoral fraud during the local elections in the East Flemish town of Ninove is said to have been launched amid suspicions that some medical certificates used to request proxy votes had been forged. On Sunday the prosecutor’s office seized around 100 proxy vote applications forms in order to verify whether there were issues with them. Actively soliciting proxy votes is illegal. Not only in Ninove did issues arise with proxy votes. There were incidents in other municipalities too.
Investigation into electoral fraud in Ninove centres on suspected falsified medical certificates
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Even before the all the votes had been counted the East Flemish prosecutor’s office announced that an investigation had been launched into suspected electoral fraud in Ninove. VRT News sources say that 100 proxy vote forms have been confiscated. The prosecutors office will use them to determine whether the rules on proxy voting have been breached in Ninove. More specifically the investigation centres on suspicions that some medical certificates used to obtain a proxy vote had been forged.
If you are too ill to vote yourself, you can ask for a medical certificate in order to get a proxy vote. On Sunday, it was reportedly noticed that the same certificate had been used several times. VRT News’ Justice Editor Philip Heymans says that “If this is true, then it is forgery and this is what the public prosecutor is currently investigating. It is not yet clear who was behind this and to whose advantage it was”.
Prosecutors in West Flanders and Antwerp Province are also investigating allegations of breaches of the rules on Proxy voting in Veurne and Turnhout respectively.
Now against the law
For the first time actively soliciting proxy votes was illegal a Sunday’s local election. Previously the practice had been well-established and widespread. Those that are unable to vote but wish to do so can request to vote by proxy. This means that someone else will vote on their behalf. In order to obrtain a proxy vote a medical certificate or a letter from a person’s employer is required. Those found guilty of solliciting proxy votes risk a custodial sentence of between 8 days and 1 month and/or a fine. However, a judge can not impose measures such as annulling the result of an election.
The East Flemish public prosecutor's office is not commenting on the Ninove investigation for now. However, everyone in the East Flemish town is looking in the direction Forza Ninove, the party of newly elected mayor Guy D'haeseleer. Mr D'haeseleer makes no secret of the fact that proxy votes are important to him and his party. Forza Ninove’s election leaflet reads “Can't go and vote? Give your vote to Forza Ninove”. Those that call the phone number listed on the leaflet receive a visit from a Forza Ninove activist to collect and fill in the necessary forms. A similar message can also be found on the party's Facebook page.
Mr D’haeseleer denies that this is soliciting proxy votes, but rather just let people know that they can contact the party. He denies that any other methods were used.
Via text messages and care home visits
NWS has several anonymous reports from people that were approached in person by activists asking it they wished to give a proxy vote to Forza Ninove. The party also used text messages to try and obtain proxy votes. The text used the same wording as the Facebook post.
On what scale the text messages were sent is unclear. Mr D'haeseleer collects personal data such as the phone numbers of potential voters on a large scale. Anyone visiting the Forza Ninove website is invited to a fill-in a form leaving their details.
People were also approached in person to persuade them to give a proxy vote. A Ninove residential care home told VRT News that someone from Forza Ninove stopped by in an attempt to speak to residents about them giving a proxy vote. The management intervened to stop this.
Many elderly people are physically unable to make their way to the polling station. A proxy vote is the only way for them to vote. Forza Ninove seems to focus on elderly people. A Ninove resident explains how her mother was approached “in a very aggressive way” by a candidate on the Forza Ninove list.
Mr D'haeseleer formally denies having sollicited proxy votes. He claims that it was the other parties that did so." We have not been going door to door soliciting proxy votes. I do know of certain other parties that have done so at care homes. But I am not going to elaborate on that. I am going to see how the investigation progresses.”
Clarity before December
The press agency Belga says that the police and the prosecutor’s office want the investigation to progress quickly so that it can conclude before the new Mayors are sworn in in December.