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Fraud: Elections

Volume 457: debated on Monday 5 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions for electoral fraud there were in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (124071)

Data held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of people prosecuted for electoral fraud under the Representation of the People Act 1983, in England and Wales, 2001 to 2005 are shown in the following table.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for electoral fraud under the Representation of the People Act 1983 England and Wales, 2001 to 20051,2

Statute

Offence

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Representation of the People Act 1983 Sec 113, 114, 115.

Bribery. Treating. Undue influence.

7

1

2

5

Representation of the People Act 1983 Sec 60.

Personation.

9

1

1

1

Total

16

2

3

6

1 These data are on the principal offence basis.

2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.