James BryceBy Wendy Williams
A STRING of irregularities have been detected on electoral rolls around Andalucia in the run up to the May elections.
The Electoral Census Bureau has already found discrepancies on the so-called ‘padrons’ of 22 towns in Malaga and a further 16 in Granada.
The towns – which have not yet been named – must now provide an explanation to the Central Electoral Board which is working to prevent fraud in the forthcoming elections on May 22.
The National Institute of Statistics, which houses the Census Bureau, has a system in place to detect suspiciously high numbers of people registering as voters, in comparison to 2007.
Irregularities have so far been detected in 295 towns throughout Spain, of which 121 have failed to offer an explanation.
In addition to the automatic alerts, the bureau is also investigating complaints from private individuals and political groups in 14 municipalities.
What’s the betting Marbella will be on the list?
Fraud, corruption, and irregularities. If anyone thought Spain would change its ways in light of recent events in the planning sector, they will be greatly dissapointed.
The Spanish authorities know that the expats are now a force in the voting system so they are creating phantom voters to offset this. Same old Spain, it’ll never change sadly.
Endemic corruption in Spanish Politics
Well the Olive press may not have enough room to print all the stories that could be written in the run up to these elections and afterwards.
Fred – why so gloom and doom, why the continual knocking the Spanish in every thread on this paper???? Can you go home or are you here because no one else wants you ??
Electoral corruption is rife, endemic and living well in many parts of Britain. Following some complaints in my home town a number of people ended up in court – one a former mayor and another a sitting councillor. They used their exalted titles\positions in the community to get people to sign up for postal voting and also registered additional people in houses they felt weren’t full enough.
As the waves of immigrants increase the more we will have incidents of electoral corruption, many not reported.
Then we have those who don’t read the form, register their 18m daughter and then complain to the local paper because she has received a voting card.
The problem with comparing UK corruption and Spanish corruption is that there is so much disparity. In Spain, politicians horded away Picasso’s, bought supercars and yachts, had millions in overseas accounts, ate in the best restaurants and spent thousands on a bottle of wine, and had millions of euros stuffed away and buried all over the place. In the UK, some poor bloke overclaimed on his expenses or claimed for a second mortgage (wow, mega-corruption there). Big differences, albeit both deserved their punishments of course. Spain is really in a league of its own in the corruption department.
The Olive Press has published countless stories on Spanish corruption so you’d better speak to the editor. Read the headline of this very article, and think before you post. I am merely commenting on the story. If something is gloomy, it is better to speak about it than deny it exists. This is a Spanish forum by the way.
I am interested in all aspects of life in Spain including politics as this is the country I live in. If I wish to have news on UK politics I will read a UK newspaper. I do wish People would when not in agreement with something they read, not stoop to the level of insults. Makes it appear as if it is something personal.