Another Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) politician of Somali background figures in the investigation into electoral fraud in Sweden. Both the now much-discussed Mohamed Abdukardir Ali and Ahmed Abas Omar have now taken a break from any political positions they might hold, which they were on course to obtain because of their large numbers of personal votes. The former was on course to receive a monthly salary of just over SEK 80,000 in the Riksdag. According to Borlänge Tidning, he has been offered a job at the Left Party’s office – with a corresponding salary.
Left Party member Mohamed Abdukardir Ali, who was unexpectedly elected to the Riksdag, is taking a break from the position before he has even had time to begin. This is due to the investigation into suspected electoral fraud that has been launched in Borlänge, Dalarna, which he represents.
‘These are very serious allegations against everyone involved,’ party secretary Maria Forsberg writes, according to Expressen.
Two from the Left Party linked to the investigation
The circumstances surrounding a fellow Left Party member in Borlänge also appear to be affected by the investigation. This is Ahmed Abas Omar, who appears set to move from sixth place on the Left Party’s list for a seat on Borlänge Municipal Council to first place. Mohamed Abdukardir Ali was in ninth place in the Riksdag election and shot past everyone else into first place. Both ended up at the top because of preferential voting, that is, unusually large numbers of personal votes.
Both are now taking a break from politics before they have begun.
‘I am taking a break until everything is sorted out and completely clear,’ Omar tells Borlänge Tidning. Quoted by Expressen.
The decision was taken together with the local party association after Omar participated in the ongoing police investigation into suspected electoral fraud in Borlänge.
‘We take this very seriously and want this to be thoroughly investigated,’ Klas Holmgren (V) told the newspaper.
Left Party cleared out 33 candidates before the election
The Left Party does not keep track of which individuals are on its parliamentary lists. It is a security threat, Expressen wrote in an editorial on Monday.
In the run-up to the election, the Left Party removed 33 candidates from its lists following revelations that they had praised terrorism or Putin, or spread hatred of Jews. Expressen journalist Inas Hamdan first exposed 25 Left Party candidates who celebrated terrorism and praised dictatorships, most of them with backgrounds in the Islamic world. Then came another round. Expressen exposed eight other Left Party candidates who ‘praise Hamas and Putin and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, including that Jews sacrifice the children of the white race’. All eight were removed from the Left Party’s lists. Those who were removed ‘were not electable from their positions on the list’, party leader Nooshi Dadgostar said at the time. The cases from Dalarna after the election show that there is no such thing as non-electable positions.
‘Mohamed Abdukardir Ali states that he is unemployed and is undergoing debt restructuring, and according to the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogden), he is considered to lack the ability to pay. Despite this, he was granted Swedish citizenship as recently as February this year,’ the newspaper writes, also noting that Ali was apparently elected to the Riksdag entirely without political experience.
Unemployed Ali on numerous trips to Somalia
The newspaper also mentions that Ali has business interests in Somalia, the country from which he is probably a refugee, and that on behalf of the company he travelled to Somalia several times during the spring, where he met representatives of the Somali government. According to his business partner, the trips were paid for ‘out of his own pocket’ because the company does not yet have any operations. How can a person who lives at subsistence level because he cannot pay his tax debt afford that?
The newspaper asks this and calls for consequences. First and foremost, a re-run of the election in Dalarna, if the suspicions of fraud are correct.
If there is substance to the suspicions, this is a scandal that must have consequences. That mistakes can happen when eight million Swedes go to the polls is regrettable, but expected. Organised and deliberate fraud is something else entirely. It is an attack on democracy itself.
If the Election Review Board (Valprövningsnämnden) receives credible indications that electoral fraud has occurred, the only right course is to annul the Riksdag election in Dalarna.
In that case, it would be the first time a Riksdag election has been re-run. And it is important that it happens quickly, writes Expressen’s editorial board.
