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'No repeat of vote-rig scandal' say leaders
Community leaders say there will be no repeat of the election-rigging scandal which has seen two former Peterborough mayors sentenced to spells behind bars.
Community leaders say there will be no repeat of the election-rigging scandal which has seen two former Peterborough mayors sentenced to spells behind bars.Senior figures among Peterborough's Asian communities say "lessons have been learned" after the number of people jailed for fraud in the same city council election reached six this week.
Ex-Tory mayor Raja Akhtar, former Conservative councillor Abdul Razaq and failed election candidate Mohammed Khaliq were given prison terms of between two and five months on Wednesday for interfering with postal votes in the city's Central ward in 2004.
Related:
Trio jailed for part in council vote rigging, 9 October 2008.
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Their imprisonment followed the jailing of former Labour mayor Mohammed Choudhary, candidate Maqbool Hussein and party official Tariq Mahmood earlier this year.
But far from prompting a loss of faith in the city's electoral system, community leaders claim the high- profile prosecutions may have restored people's faith in the security of their vote.
Chairman of the Peterborough Muslim Organisation Abdul Choudhury said he felt the sentences were harsh but admitted they had sent out a powerful warning.
He said: "People have learned a valuable lesson.
"The message is loud and clear that people must behave properly in elections and that malpractice will not be tolerated.
"There would only have been a loss of trust in the electoral system if no one had been brought to justice for these crimes.
"The fact that people have been punished so severely for breaking the rules should give people more confidence in the process."
Labour councillor Nazim Khan, who represents the city's Central ward, said he would be "very surprised" if more electoral fraud was uncovered in Peterborough.
But he called for a tightening of the postal voting system.
He said: "This year's election was totally the opposite of what happened in 2004, and I think people felt confident that things were being done properly.
"But the biggest problem is still with postal voting because it is open to abuse. People are happy to go to the ballot box because it is secret and totally secure.
"When people are given postal votes, all the parties can put them under pressure to vote in a particular way."
Wednesday's sentencing was the culmination of a 1 million police investigation codenamed Operation Hooper.
The force's chief constable Julie Spence said the success of the operation was proof that policing should be kept totally separate from politics.
As the national controversy continued over the resignation of Metropolitan police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair under pressure from London mayor Boris Johnson, Mrs Spence said police should be free to do their jobs without fear of political interference.
She said: "If we were faced with more political involvement in police decision-making, managing this type of case could be problematic.
"The police service needs to be open to proper scrutiny – not politically managed."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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