Six arrests in voter fraud probe that triggered election re-run

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of voter fraud in a town that re-ran its election to the municipal council this year because of concerns about irregularities.

The prosecution department (Openbare Ministerie) said the six people, aged between 20 and 65, were accused of documentary fraud and soliciting votes in Gorinchem, 40km east of Rotterdam.

The investigation was triggered by a formal complaint by the town’s mayor, Reinie Melissant, into alleged misuse of the proxy vote system. Police believe that signatures were forged on forms submitted by people authorising someone else to cast their vote.

The results of the local election on March 18 were annulled after councillors voted 13-12 for a new ballot, an unprecedented event in Dutch local government contests.

Local party Democraten Gorinchem won seven seats in the restaged election, the same number as in March, to become the largest party on the 25-seat council. Stadsbelang won four seats in both ballots, but the Christian Democrats took two seats rather than one while D66 lost one of its two seats.

The investigation focused on three polling stations where between 19% and 25% of votes were cast by proxy.

Election officials noticed that at one polling station a candidate for the council appeared five times during the day, each time accompanied by two or three voters who were casting proxy votes and took selfies for social media.

The prosecution service said the investigation was continuing and did not rule out further arrests.