Whittlesea Council: ‘fraud’ campaign aimed to get Nicholas Hajichristou elected, tribunal told

Investigators uncovered a mysterious and ‘systematic’ campaign of election fraud that benefited a failed Whittlesea council candidate.

Residents of the trouble-plagued Whittlesea council will go back to the polls after investigators uncovered an elaborate campaign of ballot theft and voting fraud at last year’s local council election.

Voters in the Lalor Ward will go back to the polls later this year, after a Victoria Police and Victorian Electoral Commission investigation found 24 fraudulently cast duplicate votes all put last-place candidate Nicholas Hajichristou as first preference.

A further 57 stolen ballots were also likely had Mr Hajichristou as the first-place candidate, but those ballot papers were counted and could not be recovered.

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal vice president Judge Caitlin English found the “system of fraud” might have affected the outcome of the election, which saw now-former Counsellor Steven Kozmevski elected by just 39 votes after the distribution of preferences.

There was no evidence implicating Mr Hajichristou as being “involved in, or responsible for” the fraud, even though it benefited his failed campaign for office. The Herald Sun is not suggesting Mr Hajichristou was even aware of the campaign.

But Judge English said it seemed clear the 24 duplicate votes — which were kept aside and not included in the final count — were filled out with the same pen in the same handwriting.

She also found the 57 voters whose ballots were stolen had been deprived of the right to vote.

The electoral commission’s investigators uncovered the elaborate scheme by following routine procedures for local council elections.

All duplicate votes were kept aside from the count, and an analysis found a pattern of incorrect or missing birthdates, and phony signatures, on the voter declaration form.

A further investigation found they were from a small cluster of streets west of Edgars Rd, Lalor.

The electoral commission concluded the “fraudulent scheme was designed to have Mr Hajichristou elected on first preferences”.

That alleged scheme failed spectacularly, after Mr Hajichristou received just 3344 of the 12,300 votes.

The latest ballot stuffing scandal follows that perpetrated by disgraced former Labor councillor Milad El-Halabi, who was fined $20,000 after DNA and fingerprint analysis implicated him in tampering with the 2020 Moreland council election.

It is understood Victoria Police is not currently pursuing a criminal investigation into the Whittlesea case.

Judge English criticised the postal voting system used at Victoria’s council elections, saying it was “more susceptible to a general and systematic campaign of personation”.

Acting electoral commissioner Dana Fleming said: “To those who seek to subvert our electoral processes, there will be consequences to your actions.

“We will detect your efforts, and we will act.

Ms Fleming said the commission “can be confident that their vote is safe and will not be undermined by those who seek to do wrong”.

Judge English’s decision removed Mr Kozmevski from office, effective immediately.

In a statement, Mr Kozmevski said the “attempted fraud” was likely perpetrated by “anti-Labor” forces.

A Whittlesea Council spokeswoman said Lalor residents wanting to contact their counsellor could speak to the mayor instead.

Dates for the byelection are yet to be set.

Mr Hajichristou was contacted for comment.

Whittlesea mayor Martin Taylor declined to comment.