As previously reported by Samnytt, Borlänge municipality is at the center of a police investigation into suspected undue influence in voting (commonly referred to as election fraud). The investigation concerns pre-marked ballots and Somali voters who were transported from Tjärna Ängar to polling stations. Now, internal emails show that the official responsible for the municipality’s election hosts ahead of the election turned to an active Social Democrat politician — who also sits on the municipality’s election committee — for help with recruitment.
On June 8 of this year, Johan Ohrzén, the official responsible for recruiting election hosts, sent an email to the Social Democrat politician Ayan Ubahle, which the newspaper Kvartal has reviewed.
“Hi Ayan! It’s getting close to the time to recruit election hosts for the 2026 election. Election day is Sunday, September 13, but we also need election hosts during early voting every day from August 26 onwards. Do you know of any such people who have good language skills in Arabic, Somali, etc.?”
Ubahle is a representative for the Social Democrats in the municipality’s election committee — the political body that plans and conducts the elections in the municipality.
The election hosts being recruited are tasked with guiding voters, answering questions, and managing queues in and outside the polling stations. According to regulations, those working on conducting elections should behave objectively and impartially. Despite this, the request was sent only to a politician from the Social Democrats.
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Importance of “Political Neutrality”
Johan Ohrzén has explained to Kvartal that his request to Ubahle was due to her previous employment with the municipality and her assistance in finding people who speak good Swedish as well as other languages such as Arabic, Somali, and Tigrinya. However, she reportedly never got back to Ohrzén.
He also emphasizes that political neutrality and professionalism are important in recruitment.
– In the recruitment of election hosts, as with poll workers, their political neutrality and professionalism are important. We place great emphasis on these values when we train them for their assignments, he told Kvartal.