Japati republic

News on the strange decision by West midlands police not to pursue prosecutions after 400 postal votes were rejected in a recent Spark Brook Bi election. Needless to say Respect won.

From the Stirrer

Labour’s deputy leader Ian Ward admitted he was “surprised” by the news, while Respect Party leader Salma Yaqoob described it as “very odd”.

“This doesn’t help us get to the bottom of why 400 votes were rejected because they didn’t have correct signatures or the right date of birth. That still needs some explaining” said Cllr Ward.

Clr Yaqoob who has delivered a cross-party consensus against postal voting in the city commented: “The system can’t be trusted if 400 votes are rejected at a local election.

“What this doesn’t do is address the hidden fraud, where people’s votes are being taken by family members overseeing them, and telling them who to vote for.

“People should only be allowed to have a postal vote for special reasons – for example if they are severely disabled. Everyone else should be able to vote in a secret ballot.”

Birmingham Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming said: “I’ve offered to help the police with these kind of things because they don’t seem to be very good at investigating them, but they haven’t taken me up on my offer”.

Shokat Ali won the seat for Respect, with Labour's Mohammed Azim second.

http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/sparkbrook-surprise-2511091.html