The Social Democrats’ top candidate in Landskrona, opposition councilor Fatmir Azemi, has become the subject of a police investigation after a report of suspected undue influencing during voting. According to information in the report, Azemi is alleged to have distributed ballot papers with his own name already checked.
The police received the report over the weekend from a Social Democratic party colleague of Fatmir Azemi.
According to Mathilda Strandberg, an investigator with the police, it is allegedly Azemi’s own name that was pre-checked on the ballot papers said to have been distributed.
“The suspicion concerns the distribution of ballots with pre-checked boxes,” Strandberg told SVT.
The police have launched an investigation and taken initial actions before sending the matter on to the Prosecutor’s Office.
At the same time, the investigation is still in an early stage and Azemi has not yet been formally notified of any suspicion of a crime. In this year’s election, he received 1,376 personal votes, the second highest in the municipality.
Azemi himself rejects the claims that he distributed pre-checked ballots. He says he was out campaigning on the day in question and, among other things, spoke with a group of people about how voting works.
“I did not distribute any pre-checked ballots,” he told SVT.
Party Colleague Behind the Report
It is a party colleague, Ole Rudolfsson (S), who made the police report against Azemi. Rudolfsson is number 19 on the Social Democrats’ list for the municipal council and is also a substitute member of the Environmental Committee.
He has declined to participate in an interview, referring to the ongoing police investigation, but says what he observed during the election campaign was serious enough to contact the police.
“What I saw was serious enough that I needed to proceed with a police report. This is not personal; it is about safeguarding the electoral process,” he told SVT.
The Social Democrats in Landskrona are aware of the report and have also been in contact with Fatmir Azemi about the information. The party chair, Jonas Esbjörnsson, says that at present there is no reason to withdraw confidence in the opposition councilor.
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