An Auckland judge has upheld a petition in the Manukau District Court calling for a judicial inquiry following allegations of fraud in an Auckland local body election.
By Blessen Tom of RNZ
Judge Richard McIlraith today ruled that the irregularities materially affected the result, declaring the election of local board members for the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board void.
A new election will now be held.
The hearing followed a petition by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, who claimed to have received reports of voting papers being stolen from residents and submitted without their consent.
Dale Ofsoske, an independent electoral officer for Auckland, was the respondent to the petition.
At a preliminary hearing at Manukau District Court in November, Judge Richard McIlraith ordered five ballot boxes containing votes from the electorate to be transferred from Auckland District Court, where they were being kept, to Manukau for scrutineering in the presence of the Judge, legal counsel for Hausia and Ofsoske, as well as Ofsoske himself.
Seventy-nine voting papers were subsequently identified during examination as having been cast without the rightful voter’s knowledge.
At a hearing earlier this month, legal counsel for Ofsoske acknowledged there had been irregularities in some of the ballots cast.
Papatoetoe was the only Auckland electorate to record a significant rise in turnout in the latest local body election.
While turnout in other Auckland areas dropped, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7%.
All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team.
The petition also argued that the result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns and warranted examination.
The Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board has two subdivisions, with the Ōtara having three seats and Papatoetoe four.
None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.