Election must be audited by outside observers

THE legitimacy of our elections should be seriously questioned on many fronts.

It was spine-chilling to watch ballot papers been taken out of boxes that appeared to have a troubling uniformity to them. Ballot paper after ballot paper sat neatly on top of each other with no deviation in the way creases were made in many cases.

The level of supervision over the elections and custody of ballot boxes is highly questionable with ballot boxes placed in community halls and other locations overnight with the mice and rats to keep them company.

There is no reason at all why counts cannot begin shortly after the polls close instead of waiting almost 12 hours to start counting.

There is also justification in questioning the election when it comes to the results. Many people are deeply sceptical of Gerry Adam’s poll topping performance in Louth, in view of the controversy surrounding the candidate in question, not to mention lottery ticket and first time candidates the public barely know winning seats who hardly canvass or campaign, prevailing over established party candidates.

There was some garda presence at some of the counting centres around the country, but by no means was it comprehensive, and it must be remembered that they do not appear at all at polling stations. The demographic of candidates going in our elections should also be seriously questioned.

Then we have “lifers” in Dáil Éireann who never lose their seats or hold them for most or all of their life, despite others who lose theirs with no appreciable difference in performance or ability.

Most controversial perhaps are the personnel involved in the electoral process at polling stations and counting centres, many are stalwart members of political parties and should be nowhere near ballot boxes or have anything to do with the electoral process whatsoever.

It’s high time our so-called elections were audited in full and supervised by outside observers to prevent fraud and manipulation.

A lot of people were concerned about using voting machines, however there is a complete lack of concern for the current manual system we have and deliberately so.

Maurice Fitzgerald

Shanbally

Co Cork