POSTAL BALLOT SHAMBLES - MEP CALLS FOR ENQUIRY

Following news that some ballot papers in Tyne and Wear have yet to be printed, and anecdotal reports from across the region that postal vote forms are causing widespread confusion among the electorate, Tory Euro MP Martin Callanan is calling for a full enquiry by the Electoral Commission.

Speaking this evening in Newcastle Martin said:

'This whole postal ballot experiment is turning into a Labour fiasco. Totally unrealistic administrative demands have been put on many local authorities in order to help the Labour Party in its efforts to gerrymander these elections. All that they have succeeded in doing is reducing the democratic process in the North East, and the other regions, to the level of farce.'

He continued:

' Over the past couple of days I have been approached by numerous voters who have been put off voting by the complex system and heard of others who will not get the opportunity to vote due to holidays coinciding with the late arrival of ballot papers. Making these elections all postal was a totally unnecessary experiment that was pushed through by the government despite warnings from us about possible problems. Surely it would have been more sensible to give people the option to vote in the traditional way as well as the possibility of voting by post?'

'I will be writing to Sam Younger, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, over the weekend and will ask him to give an assurance that a full post-election enquiry will be held in order to ensure this shambles never happens again.'