UKIP leader Nigel Farage has accused Labour of election fraud in the Oldham West and Royton by-election, describing the overwhelming result for Jeremy Corbyn’s party as “seriously bent.”
Labour’s Jim McMahon stomped to victory in the by-election, which was called after the death of Corbyn-loyalist Michael Meacher, with an increased majority of 62.1 percent of the vote.
Shortly after the result was announced early Friday morning, UK Independence Party (UKIP) boss Farage claimed he had evidence of electoral fraud relating to postal votes. However, UKIP sources were quick to backtrack on the claims.
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson dismissed Farage’s allegations as a case of “sour grapes” following the party’s defeat.
Farage described the Oldham West result as “perverse” in an early morning Twitter rant on Friday.
As a veteran of over thirty by-elections I have never seen such a perverse result. Serious questions need to be asked.
– Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 4, 2015
Evidence from an impeccable source that today’s postal voting was bent.
– Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 4, 2015
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Faragae said “some very odd things happened” at the by-election, citing a 15 percent increase in the number of postal votes as an example.
Farage said he had heard “stories of practices that shouldn’t have been happening,” including claims people turned up at polling stations with multiple postal votes.
The UKIP leader suggested “big ethnic changes in the way people are voting” could have “perverted” the result of the election.
“In some of these seats, where … people don’t speak English, but they’re signed up to postal votes, effectively the electoral process is now dead,” he told the BBC.
Via RT.