Politics

Far-right candidates spread baseless claims of election fraud

Some claims based on a misunderstanding, deliberate or otherwise, of how votes are counted in the local elections

It is standard practice to separate votes in the European and local elections and count them in different locations in order to speed up the count process. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
It is standard practice to separate votes in the European and local elections and count them in different locations in order to speed up the count process. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Conor Gallagher
Sun Jun 09 2024 - 19:00

A number of far-right groups who look to have underperformed in the local elections have started spreading baseless claims of election fraud.

Without offering evidence, several activists are claiming possible fraud based on the movement of votes between count centres for tallying and counting. In several cases, posts shared online compare the activity to the 2020 US presidential election, during which supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump made similarly baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

Although it appears a small number of far-right candidates will be elected to city or county councils, there has been no significant breakthrough. Instead, less extreme independent candidates appear to have overperformed, along with the Government parties.

Counting in the local elections started on Saturday, while counting in the European elections began on Sunday morning.

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In the last two days, various claims of election fraud or interference have circulated, some of which have been viewed many thousands of times.

In some cases, these are based on a misunderstanding, deliberate or otherwise, of how votes are counted in the local elections.

Fergus Power, a far-right candidate standing in Shankhill in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, who has a history of spreading false information, posted a message titled “this is looking like voter fraud”. The post asks why votes are being moved from the count centre in the RDS in Dublin to Weston Airport.

It is standard practice to separate votes in the European and local elections and count them in different locations in order to speed up the count process. This has happened in previous elections and is a feature of counts across the country. Votes are transported in sealed boxes and with a Garda escort.

“Local elections counts take place at different venues to the counts for the European elections. These are the normal arrangements that have applied previously at European and Local Elections,” a spokesman for the Department of Local Government said.

Other claims that are being spread widely included that immigrants were illegally allowed to vote and run in the local elections.

Stephen Kerr, a far-right candidate who failed to get elected in Castlebar, posted a video titled “election interference in full flow”, complaining of reports of “a dozen and a half African people” in a Mayo polling station on Friday.

He also posted a photo purporting to be part of an Electoral Register, complaining about the number of “foreign” looking names on it. The video has been viewed 26,000 times.

All people who are resident in the State have been allowed to vote in local elections since the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution passed in 1999. EU citizens who are resident in Ireland can vote in the European elections. Neither group can vote in general elections.

“Anyone ordinarily resident in the country is eligible to apply to be included on the register of electors. Citizenship determines the right to vote at different electoral events and all those who are on the register of electors regardless of their citizenship are entitled to vote at local elections,” the department spokesman said.

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher is Crime and Security Correspondent of The Irish Times