Respect action over postal vote

Mr Galloway has been the Iraq war's fiercest opponent

George Galloway's Respect party plans legal action to suspend postal voting, it revealed at its manifesto launch.

The party is incensed over a campaign by Labour and union activists to get people to send applications for postal votes to a Labour clearing house.

Labour and the unions say they are acting within election guidelines. The Tories also defend the same tactic.

Respect wants to pull troops out of Iraq and protect civil liberties. It has 26 candidates.

Respect, a coalition that grew out of socialist and trade union opposition to the war, is also supporting some anti-war Labour candidates.

It seems to me that Mr Galloway has read a lot of stories about Ronnie and Reggie Kray and thinks everyone is a crook in the East End Alan Barnard Ms King's campaign manager Sketch: When George met Salam

Mr Galloway is involved in a bitter battle for the Bethnal Green and Bow seat in London's East End with pro-war Labour loyalist Oona King.

He has already said Ms King's mailshot of postal vote application forms with hand-written advice asking for it to be sent back to her office is illegal. Ms King says it is legal and within guidelines.

READ THE MANIFESTO Respect manifesto in full (732KB) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here Watch the launch

And although on a national level, Labour is encouraging voters to send their applications to a clearing house in Newcastle, from which they are sent on to local returning officers, activists in Bethnal Green and Bow say their own mailshot is gathered locally and hand-delivered to the returning officer.

Respect is currently gathering evidence of vulnerability to fraud in the postal voting system and says it will present it to the High Court on Thursday or Friday this week.

Mr Galloway said if the courts would not suspend postal voting, he wanted postal votes to be counted and announced separately.

He also wants a return to the old system, where postal voting is only allowed where necessary, as opposed to the new system where anybody can request it.

Ms King supported the war

He pointed to the electoral fraud cases in Birmingham and Blackburn as evidence of the dangers of postal voting.

He said: "Ballot papers have a habit of sticking to New Labour fingers.

"There is a very real danger of Birmingham and Blackburn being followed by Bethnal Green and Bow."

He said trade union Amicus' campaign to get voters to sign up for postal votes was "blatantly illegal".

An Amicus spokeswoman denied any illegality, said the practice was a longstanding one, and one that fell within new election guidelines.

Ms King's campaign manager, Alan Barnard, said the candidate's mailshot tended to be responded to by Labour voters and was completely legal and ethical.

"It seems to me that Mr Galloway has come here from Scotland having read a lot of stories about the East End such as those about Ronnie and Reggie Kray and thinks everyone is a crook in the East End.

"How dare he try and decide who can and can't have a postal vote. That is more like the way Saddam Hussein used to run his elections."

It also emerged on Monday that Mr Galloway was calling for the release of former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.

Mr Galloway said he had signed a petition to the UN calling for the release of Mr Aziz, along with the former foreign minister of France, a secretary to Pope John Paul II, and five Labour Mps.

"Tariq Aziz is not facing international charges. He is being held by the Americans.

"He has had two heart attacks and a stroke. Given his job was as a diplomat - the last person he met before the war was the Pope - we believe he is being held vindictively and should be freed."

Mr Galloway was thrown out of the Labour Party after being accused of having "incited foreign forces to rise up against British troops".

Mr Galloway has accused his opponent Ms King of being a "New Labour stooge", while she has said she is delighted at the prospect of being able to "finish off" the former Glasgow Kelvin MP.

The constituency has a large number of mostly-Muslim Bangladeshis and candidates for both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives come from this community.

Respect activists say it is not a single issue party, but has a broad socialist agenda including the repeal of anti-union laws, more taxes on the rich, an end to privatisation and contracting-out in public services and a minimum wage of £7.40 an hour.

Mr Galloway paraphrased John Lennon's Imagine when he said of the party's manifesto: "You may say we are dreamers but we are not the only ones who are dreaming of a better country and a better world."

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph has won permission to appeal against a judge's ruling that the newspaper should pay £150,000 libel damages to Mr Galloway over claims he received money from Saddam-era Iraq..

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Your comments:

The three main parties all support differing levels of the status quo. There comes a time that we have to be offered choices that are not based on the assumption that capitalist societies are the only way to live. The Labour Party when founded offered this, but no more. The Respect manifesto does seem to be looking towards a fairer and more caring society. I want to vote for that, not more of the same.
Andrew Lee, London, UK

Galloway has done well as an issue politician. He was right to oppose the war and equally right to oppose postal votes ending up with Oona King's London followers. I doubt I'll vote for him, but any postal votes must go directly to the returning officer and should be counted and declared separately from the on-day ballot. Oona should see the sense of this in the current climate and not try to defend the indefensible.
Keith Mansfield, Spitalfields, UK

I live in Bethnal Green & Bow and have never voted Labour before. However on 5 May I will do so without hesitation and by post. The thought of Mr Galloway representing me in Parliament is not an attractive one
Matthew Boyle, London, UK

It is strange that the Labour Party claim that they are working within the guidelines when the Electoral Commission state quiet clearly that "Because of the risk of suspicions that the application may be altered and the risk of the application form being delayed or lost in transit, the local Electoral Registration Officer's address should be the preferred address given for the return of application forms." What part of that do they not understand?
Paul, London

While there is any doubt over postal votes we should be very careful in how they are handled Scott Green, England

While there is any doubt over postal votes we should be very careful in how they are handled. We take value and pride in our democracy and are aghast at the level of corruption seen in many countries around the world. The recent cases have shown how vulnerable postal votes are to manipulation. I do not want to see a situation similar to Florida where the judiciary essentially decide the outcome of an election.
Scott Green, London, England

George Galloway and Respect are the only politicians who don't approach voter apathy with a patronising tone. The idea of a postal vote that is returned to the party that sent it out is not only undemocratic but, especially when targeted at young people, implies that we are too ignorant or lazy to make an informed choice. Galloway has realized that if apathetic voters had a party they felt was principled and really represented their beliefs, they would find it surprisingly easy to come out and vote.
Kathy Fry, Cambridge, UK

I am a Conservative voter, so I do not agree with many of George Galloway's views, but he is right to question the way that postal votes are being used in this election. The administration of postal votes should be completely independent of the political parties.
Philip L, Birmingham, UK

After Birmingham how can we go ahead with mass postal voting? The results can not be believed, if a hung parliament is declared we may have months of American style blame.
Huw Griffiths, Pontypridd

Hopefully the bitching between Ms King and Mr Galloway will persuade Bethnal Green & Bow's Labour voters to switch to the Liberal Democrats - that would send both of them a clear message.
Jack Steggles, Chelmsford, UK

In view of the fact that applications for postal votes are rising fastest, by up to 500% over 2001, in marginal seats, I fear that unscrupulous individuals have taken the words of Judge Mawrey to heart, "The system is wide open to fraud and any would-be political fraudster knows that," I haven't heard anybody disagree with these words. Good luck to George Galloway in his attempt to have the postal vote as it stands now made null and void.
John Quincy, London, UK

Although I am strongly opposed to the socialist philosophy of Respect, I support their call to suspend postal voting.
Richard, Farnham

Good luck to him and his party and the other independent candidates spawned by the hurt that all us voiceless, unheard, marginalised people feel over Blair's betrayal of common decent principles of fairness and justice for all and not just for the fat cats who line their own pockets and pensions. Where's the fairness and principle in billions being spent on a war that has cost thousands of lives of Iraqis? This cover up deserves some form of redistributive justice and may be Mr. Galloway and the other anti-war parties will deliver it.
Suzie, Eltham, Kent

In a democracy nobody should be "encouraged" to vote in any particular way. The way postal voting is being "used" by political parties and unions is anti-democratic and should have no place in our system. Postal voting should also not be possible until the "election campaign" is complete. This is another way this system abuses the democratic process. George Galloway and Respect is right to mount legal challenge.
Tony Dowling, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear

George Galloway is simply softening up the Respect party's supporters for their inevitable defeat in the election by starting to apportion "blame" now.
Billy Jenkinson, London, UK

I certainly believe that, in areas where there are any allegations of Postal Vote irregularities, the Returning officer should be encouraged to keep the votes segregated (even if the counting agents are not aware which sub-totals relate to postal votes) in case there is a call for an electoral inquiry.
Andrew P. Jones, Didcot, Oxfordshire

Thanks to Respect in West Ham while I may not get the Conservative MP I would like, I do have a chance to vote tactically for Respect and hopefully stop a Tony's Crony New Labour candidate parachuted into my constituency after Tony Bank's last minute resignation.
Tom, London

The politics of both George Galloway and Oona King is resulting in fragmentation and division of voters on the religious and racial lines. In my view, the war against Iraq was illegal and we were misled by Blair. But still the voters and the British public should not be divided on religious lines as would happen in predominately ethnic community areas such as Bethnal Green.
Mehkri, Surrey, UK

It is a disgrace that New Labour has continued with a system so open to fraud as the present postal voting is - what is worse their party has got caught out twice already, in Birmingham and Blackburn. Bribery and corruption has been virtually unknown in UK elections for over 100 years because the secret ballot made it so difficult. In my view, Labour has now made it easy. Shame on them!
Jon, Bangkok, Thailand

The Conservatives were forced into offering a postal ballot service to defend their voters falling prey to Labour activists. A smaller party like Respect does not have the mass to administer such a system and is right to challenge the postal ballot system. Labour should come clean and admit it is farcical and a ploy to ensure their voters turn out.
Alex Trevelyan, London, UK

Shouldn't postal votes simply be posted - direct to the Returning Officer?!
Lyn, Cardiff, Wales

Ditto Jamie Lang's comments. Don't much care for George, but he has a point. Also, the mainstream media has completely failed to pick up on David Blunkett's comments that ID cards would have helped stop fraud in postal voting. OK, how?
Peter Galbavy, London

Are we accepting that a vote is no longer an act by an individual and that parties will soon be able to legally operate some form of block vote through the postal ballot system? How can it be legal for a vote to go anywhere other than directly to the returning officer's office? Is democracy going to continue to die on the alter of party privilege?
Bruce Henderson, Bo'ness, Scotland

The day George Galloway gave a lecture when I was in sixth form I was immediately switched off from what he had to say. However, as time has progressed he is becoming more of a formidable character, albeit retaining the aggressive edge. He has every right to draw attention to the working practices of this Labour constituency especially in light of previous fraudulent methods regarding Labour and postal voting. One should question the wisdom of the tarnished postal voting system, especially in such a marginal seat.
Mathan Navaratnam, Watford, England

I admire George Galloway for sticking by his principles and speaking out so loudly about, in my view, Blair's immoral war. I have little time for Respect though who will only split the anti-war vote further when it is already split between the Lib Dems and the Greens.
Baz Tregear, Derbyshire, England

George Galloway's "hijacking" of the Bethnal Green & Bow election is a disgrace. In my view, he doesn't care one iota about the people of the constituency and, if elected, would probably spend most of his time out of the country.
David, Wapping (Bethnal Green & Bow), London, UK

I would like George Galloway to head a significant electoral presence - maybe even winning some seats. Not because I support his policies but I believe he should be vindicated over Iraq as he was telling the truth and in my view, the PM has woven an intricate web of deception and bluster. The Iraq war has taken a pre-eminent position as the most repugnant action this country has taken in the last 60 years.
Andrew Fox, Brighouse

First people should only be awarded postal votes if they have a genuine necessity for them, for instance by virtue of being disabled or being absent and unable to return to their area of registration. The polls are open long enough not to justify a postal vote for able bodied people working less than 15 hours on polling day. The postal voting system costs public money and I do not see a reason why I should subsidise people too lazy to go to a polling booth.
Eric Pritchard, Clevedon, North Somerset

The changes to allow postal votes went through after the last election. Did those who are now complaining comment then? If not why not? Is this issue really a pre-emptive attack on the result of the election by those who lose - of whichever party? There are very high numbers of postal votes in Conservative/Liberal Democrat areas such as Cheadle and Woking. Are the results there going to be under as much scrutiny and if not why not?
Brian Selby, Leeds

I've never particularly liked George Galloway as an individual but he and Respect are right about this postal voting fiasco. Postal votes should be counted separately to see whether there is a statistical difference in the parties voted for compared to people voting on the day. If there is, postal votes should be disqualified.
Jamie Lang, Sheffield UK