Somali Preferential-Vote Candidate in Småland Accused of Election Fraud: “Didn’t Feel Like a Free Election”

The Somali Mahad Olad (M) gained a seat in the Gislaved municipal council through preferential votes in this year’s election. Now, the newly elected Moderate faces accusations of voters being influenced to vote for him at a polling station. However, the Somali denies the allegations.

Several politicians with Somali backgrounds made strong showings in the September personal votes, receiving far more individual votes than many had expected. In several areas, relatively unknown candidates were preferentially voted past more established politicians within the same party, including in Borlänge and Eskilstuna.

Now, another such example is drawing attention, this time in Småland. Mahad Olad received 204 personal votes, 91 of which were in the Gullvivan precinct, making him the fifth most preferentially voted politician in Gislaved. At the same time, the Moderate party’s local support increased sharply, from 11 percent in 2022 to 24 percent in this year’s election.

According to several people interviewed by Värnamo Nyheter, Olad allegedly stood close to the polling station on election day and tried to influence voters. Polling staff are said to have repeatedly asked him to move away.

There are also reports that voters entered with ballots that already had his name checked. When asked if he had distributed pre-marked ballots, Olad replied, “absolutely not.”

Several sources also tell the local newspaper that other influential members of the Somali community in the Trasten neighborhood encouraged voters to vote for him.

One person is especially pointed out and described by several as threatening. The individual denies being at the polling station on election day but later admits to accompanying a woman and assisting her with voting.

One person who worked at the election in Gislaved described the experience to the local paper:

– It felt like it was not a free election, the person told VN.

The most concrete piece of information appears in a handwritten polling station protocol from Gullvivan. It states: “he has also been heard promising voters jobs if they checked his name.”

The protocol does not mention Olad by name but refers to number 11 on the Moderates’ municipal list—which is where Olad was placed.

– It feels like someone is trying some sort of mudslinging, but I can’t really speak about that, because it should be obvious that it’s not true, Mahad Olad told VN.

If the formulation concerns concrete job offers, it could have legal relevance. According to the Criminal Code, it is punishable to offer money, gifts, or other benefits to influence someone’s vote.

At the same time, Gislaved Municipality has not reported the incidents at Gullvivan to the Election Authority. Since this year’s election, municipalities and county boards are required to promptly report incidents that may have influenced the election. Twenty-four days after election day, the Election Authority had still not received any incident report from Gislaved.