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Elections: Fraud

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the changes in the levels of electoral fraud in Northern Ireland as a result of the introduction of individual electoral registration. (219069)

The Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 introduced a number of measures—including individual registration—to address the perception of electoral fraud, which was seen to be undermining the democratic process in Northern Ireland. Both the Electoral Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland believe that since these measures were introduced the potential for fraud has been reduced and confidence has been largely restored. Successive Electoral Commission reports have affirmed this.

The Commission’s report on the March 2007 Assembly elections stated that while some perceptions of fraud persist among a proportion of the public in Northern Ireland, these

“are not borne out by experience of recent elections.”