An election worker who, during this year’s election, had the role of election supervisor in the Stockholm area of Järva—including Rinkeby, Tensta, and Husby—describes a series of events that he claims deviated from how voting is supposed to be conducted. He reports, among other things, voters with pre-marked ballots, people trying to influence other voters, and a larger group of Eritrean women who arrived at a Husby polling station together with two priests.
The information comes at a time when police have launched a preliminary investigation into suspected election fraud in Stockholm. The election board in the City of Stockholm filed a police report after an article in Svenska Dagbladet, where election workers testified to ‘clan voting, election influence, and election fraud.’
They also agree on which terms should be used to describe what they had seen. ‘Clan voting, election influence, and election fraud at a level I have never seen before,’ says one poll worker. Another believes it was obvious that clans and mosques controlled much of the voting, and that uninformed voters—mainly women—were systematically misled and exploited.
Peter Wennblad on the testimonies.
The 68-year-old election worker, who has worked at elections in Stockholm for several decades and wishes to remain anonymous, says that the events in Järva this year differed markedly from his previous experiences.
According to the election supervisor, there was a constant stream of people coming to the polling stations on election day, and many came with ballots that had already been marked or with completed envelopes. When election workers tried to find out where the ballots came from, they found, according to him, that several of the voters could not answer because they did not understand Swedish.
He also recounts that, on two occasions with a colleague, he had to intervene against a man who was handing out ballots right outside a polling station.
– There was a constant stream of people coming in, many had pre-marked ballots or envelopes already prepared. We asked where they got them from, but they didn’t understand Swedish. On two occasions, a colleague and I drove off a man who was handing out ballots directly outside the polling place.
According to the election supervisor, the ballots in these cases had mainly been marked in advance for Left Party politician Ilyas Hassan. He states that there were also pre-marked ballots from the Social Democrats.
Same Party and Candidate
One of the incidents the supervisor especially points out took place in Husby. There, according to his information, about one hundred Eritrean women arrived at a polling station together with two priests. This event was also reported earlier in the week by Svenska Dagbladet.
The election supervisor says he was present when the group arrived and that the situation quickly became difficult to manage since so many people entered the polling station at the same time.
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When asked how he could know which party the women voted for, he states that they announced a number and at the same time held up Social Democratic ballots. He says that he then brought up the matter with one of the priests.
– They said a number and held up a ballot from the Social Democrats. I spoke to the priest and said, “It can’t be done like this. You cannot stand there and tell them who to vote for.” He replied, “But I have to explain how it works.”
Another election worker, also reportedly present, has been contacted and, like the first worker, wishes to remain anonymous in Aftonbladet’s article. This person describes the size of the group:
‘At least 100 showed up, I’d say even 150. Mostly older women from Eritrea who had been in the nearby church. Very few, maybe 3-4 of the younger ones, understood a bit of Swedish.’
Some Didn’t Want to Vote as Instructed
According to the election supervisor, there were also situations where voters themselves expressed that they actually wanted to vote for a different party than what was marked on their prepared ballots or envelopes.
He recounts that on three occasions he was asked to help voters this way. Two of the incidents allegedly occurred in Rinkeby and one in Kista.
– Yes, three times. Twice in Rinkeby and once in Kista. Someone waved me over to get help. They had ready-made ballots or envelopes and quietly said, “I don’t want to vote for this. Can you discreetly throw these away so I can vote for what I want.”
He also describes that there were people using their phones inside during voting. According to him, some talked on the phone while filming their ballots to identify who to vote for.
The Election Board Has Filed a Police Report
The Stockholm city election board has handed over the information to the police via a complaint of suspected voting fraud. Eva Debels, head of the election board’s office in the City of Stockholm, says the complaint was filed to let the legal system determine if a crime might have been committed.
Debels also states that the election office had already been in contact during the campaign with the Left Party after reports of voters arriving at polling stations with pre-marked ballots.
The police, at the same time, have reported that the number of complaints about suspected undue influence during voting has increased following post-election reporting.
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