Gorinchem’s mayor has reported several forms of election fraud

Mayor Reinie Melissant-Briene of Gorinchem reported several forms of election fraud on Wednesday. She said this on Thursday at the start of a second information meeting for the municipal council about the investigation into possible voting fraud in last week’s elections.

This includes influencing and recruiting proxies. Melissant also reported “coercing or bribing voters” and using false documents.

At the first information meeting last Tuesday, she said that residents had people knocking on their door, calling them and being pressured to issue powers of attorney. The mayor says he has received “more than ten signals” of fraud at three polling stations. Any reports to the police are not taken into account.

On Thursday, Melissant said that rumors about voting fraud have been circulating within the municipality for “years” – but according to her, “names and numbers were missing”.

The election result in the municipality has now been formally determined by the Central Electoral Committee, despite the suspicions of fraud. The municipal council may decide to declare the result invalid. The Electoral Council wrote in an advisory on Wednesday does not consider this “necessary”, but says that it will leave the decision on this to the municipal council.

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