The outgoing mayor of the East Flemish town of Ninove Tania De Jonge (liberal) has told VRT News that she is still reluctant to take legal action following the high number of proxy votes cast in last Sunday’s local elections in her town. The public prosecutor's office is currently investigating possible fraud with proxy votes in Ninove. More than 7% of the votes cast in Ninove last Sunday were proxy votes. The investigation centres on whether some of the proxy votes were obtained fraudulently.
Outgoing mayor of Ninove says that she has received “ugly messages” from supporters of far-right mayor-elect
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Ms De Jonge told VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’ the news of the alleged electoral fraud worries her. However, she wants to know all the facts before taking legal action. “There was a disproportionately high number of proxies. We have therefore decided to seek legal advice from a lawyer.”
Ms De Jonge added that it is only appropriate for her to wish to know what the impact of the proxies might have been on the election result and the distribution of seats on the town council. “Only when this has been properly figured out will we know whether we will take legal action”.
Ms De Jonge also said that the fact that she is seeking legal advice has resulted in her receiving a lot of messages accusing her of being “jealous” and saying that she “cannot accept the result”.
“There are also supporters of Guy D'haeseleer (the far-right mayor-elect) that send me ugly messages. However, insults have no impact on me. I am not easily intimidated.”