The city of Stockholm has reported suspected election fraud to the police in Järva, north of Stockholm, based on information in an editorial in Svenska Dagbladet. A preliminary investigation has been launched into improper actions during voting and taking improper rewards during voting.
In the editorial, alleged problems linked to the Left Party appear, to which some of the incident reports from the voting in Järva are also linked. At the same time, information linked to other parties also appears in the reports.
The Left Party's district chairman in Stockholm, August Flensburg, tells SVT that it is good that ambiguities are investigated, but points out that the police report is based on anonymous sources and is not directed at any individual.
Voter turnout in Järva increased by five percentage points in this year's parliamentary elections compared to 2022. This year, 60 percent of those eligible to vote voted. According to Eva Debels, the electoral committee did not themselves receive any information that they deemed sufficient for a police report, but it was information in the media that was behind the report.
On Friday, the municipal board will hold an extraordinary meeting due to the suspicions of election fraud. There, the Moderates will demand that the management appoint an independent investigation.
DN has spoken to three vote recipients in Järva.
The three election workers state that there have been problems with ballots that have been moved in the polling station and that have been crossed out. Eva Debels, head of office at the electoral board, confirms that there has been a problem and that what happened is inappropriate, but that it does not stand out from previous elections.
- It's something that happens all the time. It is also a very important part of the voice receivers' job to fix. The very best solution would be if ballot papers were not allowed to appear outside the polling stations at all, she says.
A vote receiver, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that the problems with the ballots affected several parties. Among other things, the Moderates' ballots have been placed in front of ballots for L, S and V, while the SD's ballots have been placed where the Social Democrats usually lie.
It can create problems for those who have not voted in Swedish elections before or who do not know the language, says Eva Debels:
- The slips are placed in a certain order alphabetically, which people who have not voted before or who may not know the language receive as an instruction. For example, when SD's supporters change seats and put their bills first, where the party on A, i.e. the Workers' Party-Social Democrats, usually is, people may think it is the Social Democrats. Then they take those ballots and vote for it, says the vote receiver.
Retired journalist Göran Jacobsson has been a vote recipient in Rinkeby. He did not perceive any fraud with personally crossed ballots, but saw it as part of an ongoing personal election campaign. He saw some who came to the polling station with already personally marked ballots, but believes that it does not have to be anything strange.
- Maybe you take them home and sit there to talk and figure out who you want to cruise with, says Jacobsson.
Another voice recipient tells DN about major problems with the notes. He found several crossed ballot papers for V in the booths in Rinkeby, Husby and Tensta.
- It's not always on purpose, I think. People pick up a ballot and then you don't know where you took it but put it back. But there were more deliberate actions – such as one party's notes being put in favor of another party in all three elections. There have also been whole bundles of banknotes hidden under the polling station, he says.
Eva Debels says that the information the electoral committee has received is that there were not several people behind the booths in Järva, but that it worked well in the premises. According to the Electoral Act, a voter who needs help must first receive it from a voter.
According to new rules, a voter must accompany the voter behind the booth if they vote with the help of a relative. However, it became difficult to catch up when many voters with that need would vote at the same time, one of the vote recipients tells DN.
- But it has not been about them wanting to influence on that scale, she says.
Göran Jacobsson says that the vast majority stood alone behind the voting booths in Rinkeby when the voters asked them to.
- But I came across a man who was extremely aggressive and refused to leave his wife. He stood close and shouted: "We have decided at home what we will vote for together." They could not be shared.
A voice receiver states that he has seen several people behind the booth at the same time on one occasion in Husby.
- It got very messy inside the polling station because they didn't stand in a queue but kind of pressed on. Sometimes there were three or four people behind a voting booth.
Two of the voters say they saw party representatives in the wrong places during voting.
Göran Jacobsson says that he saw a representative of the Social Democrats who stood inside the polling station on several occasions and tried to help people vote. After the voice receivers contacted S, the person apologized, says Jacobsson.
The information that a person handed out ballot papers for S inside the polling station can be found in an incident report from the electoral board.
One of the vote recipients saw in Rinkeby how a representative of V handed out ballot papers too close to the premises, something that was also noted in an incident report.
Eva Debels confirms that on one occasion V handed out banknotes near the voting location in Rinkeby, and that the people must have followed the instructions of the vote recipients. She is also aware that a person should have informed about how to vote for the Left Party inside the polling station in Tensta, but not that it should have happened repeatedly.
