Birmingham City Council - a Banana Republic?

10.47.25pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 4th Apr 2005

Richard Mawrey QC, the Electoral Commissioner has today ruled that six Councillors in Birmingham were elected due to massive postal vote fraud. Mr. Mawrey ruled that the six Councillors lose their seats and re-runs occur. He further compared Birmingham City Council to a Banana Republic.

Mr Mawrey called the system of postal voting "hopelessly insecure", saying the system is wide open to fraud and any would-be political fraudster knows that it's wide open to fraud. Commenting on the ballot envelopes being easily identifiable in the post, he said "Short of writing 'Steal Me' on the envelopes, it is hard to see what more could be done to ensure their coming into the wrong hands," Mr Mawrey added.

Mr Mawrey also said "Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising..."