Media release
Palmer United Party federal leader Clive Palmer has demanded the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) declare the recount of the Senate vote in Western Australia invalid after its latest debacle in losing more than a thousand ballots.
Mr Palmer said the admission from the AEC Commissioner of a “serious administrative issue” where 1375 votes went “missing” was just another example of the incompetent and fraudulent conduct of the AEC.
“How do you manage to lose that many votes and will somebody take responsibility for this fiasco and fall on their sword?” Mr Palmer said.
“The AEC has just become a joke and a fraud with some of the mistakes that have been made during the 2013 federal election counting.
“The recount in WA should be declared invalid and the original result restored as it was the only one which has every ballot counted.”
The AEC agreed to a request for a recount from the Greens despite Palmer United Party candidate Dio Wang being declared the winner of the fifth Senate seat in WA.
Mr Palmer said the Palmer United Party had strongly rejected the decision to order a recount as well as its move to only recount above the line ballots.
“There had already been discrepancies in this recount with several hundred ballots mistakenly placed in the informal pile,” he said.
“We have already seen a number of discrepancies in the counting in my electorate of Fairfax on the Sunshine Coast.
“Is the AEC trying to rig the election? Are they committing a fraud? Or are they just completely incompetent?
“Certainly our experience from this election is that there are many issues with Australia’s voting system and the AEC needs urgent reform.”
ENDS