§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Attorney-General how many allegations of(a) fraudulent voting,(b) misuse of proxies, (c) breach of financial limits and (d) other breaches of election law and been (i) received by the police or the Crown Prosecution Service, (ii) investigated and (iii) prosecuted, and with what result, for each year since 1992.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe number of cases reported to the CPS with a view to investigation for election offences between 1992 and 1995 and covering both parliamentary and local government elections is a follows:
1992101 cases199330 cases (between 1 April and 31 December)199461 cases1995 (to date)3 casesThere are no accurate figures for the first three months of 1993.
Categorisation of the cases in the manner requested by the hon. Member could be effected only through recovery from archives and scrutiny of each individual file. This would involve disproportionate cost. In 1992, there were five successful prosecutions for the personation of those entitled to vote; two of double voting; and one case of a person convicted on an eight-count indictment of theft and forgery of ballot papers and personation.
In 1993, there was one successful prosecution for a failure to return a declaration of expenses; one of making a false statement of fact about the personal character or conduct of a candidate; and one case of two offences of falsification of proxy forms. There was also an acquittal in a case of incurring unauthorised expenses.
In 1994, a case of falsification of a nomination of candidate form was commenced. The case has been committed for trial but no trial date has yet been fixed.
There is no central record of allegations received by the police but not submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.