Police launch probe into alleged pre-marked ballot scheme in Stockholm precincts

Authorities in Stockholm have begun a criminal investigation after the city’s election board submitted a police report alleging coordinated vote-fraud. A senior poll worker, who has overseen voting in Rinkeby and Tensta for decades, recounted seeing large numbers of voters with pre-checked ballots, some bearing the name of V politician Ilyas Hassan and others from the Social Democrats. He also described two episodes where priests distributed voting instructions to groups of Eritrean women, causing chaos inside the polling place.

Additional witnesses reported voters filming ballots and asking staff to discreetly discard pre-filled papers so they could vote freely. Eva Debels, head of the election board’s office, confirmed the filing and said the police will assess whether the alleged actions breach the law. The case revives concerns about electoral integrity that surfaced in the 2022 election.