District electoral committee discusses manipulated ballot papers

The district electoral committee is currently meeting in Dresden to determine the final result of the state election for Dresden. They are also discussing the manipulated ballot papers in various constituencies. There are a total of eight constituencies in Dresden. A correspondingly large number of briefcases and ballot boxes are piled up in the ballot hall of the New Town Hall, and the meeting is expected to last several hours.

After the state election, it became known that more than 100 postal ballot papers in several Saxon constituencies had been manipulated in favor of the small far-right party Freie Sachsen. The Dresden public prosecutor's office and the Saxon State Criminal Police Office (LKA) are now investigating.

Affected ballot papers in constituency 40 already invalid

At the beginning of the committee, the Dresden electoral officer Markus Blocher provided information about the manipulation found in Dresden. According to him, 112 manipulated ballot papers had been discovered in several postal constituencies. Among those affected - as was previously known - are constituencies 36011 (29 ballot papers) and 36012 (56 ballot papers) in Langebrück in the north of Dresden. The electoral boards of the two constituencies had already reported "anomalies in some ballot papers" on election day, explained Chief Electoral Officer Markus Blocher.

The district electoral committee will decide on the invalidity of the affected ballot papers during the course of the day. In constituency 40, where most of the manipulated ballot papers occurred, all affected ballot papers have already been declared invalid.