German police investigate ballot fraud for far-right group in Saxony

Police in the eastern German state of Saxony are investigating suspected election fraud after finding numerous postal ballots manipulated in favour of the fringe far-right extremist Free Saxons party.

The ballots were cast in Sunday's state parliamentary election. Police in the state capital of Dresden said unidentified suspects subtly taped over the actual votes of dozens of people and marked the ballots for the Free Saxons instead.

Around 117 such paper ballots have been found in various Dresden constituencies, and police have also secured 14 apparently manipulated ballots from two constituencies in the town of Radeberg, about 10 kilometres north-east of Dresden.

According to dpa research, the extreme right-wing Free Saxons did remarkably well in two Dresden constituencies affected by the alleged fraud, collecting 10.2% of the vote - compared to just 2.2% statewide.

A Dresden city spokseman said the state electoral administration was informed of the irregularities on Monday and a complaint was filed.

The district electoral committee will decide on the result of the Dresden electoral authority's election audit on Thursday, including on the number of ballots that may be declared invalid, according to a Dresden city spokesman.

The final result of the eight Dresden constituencies will also be determined at that time.

The spokesman said that Dresden's electoral officer, Markus Blocher, would not immediately comment on the alleged incidents due to the ongoing criminal investigation and an election audit.

Saxony's domestic intelligence agency classifies the Free Saxons as a known far-right extremist organization, and describes the party as a group of neo-Nazis, functionaries of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) - which has since renamed itself Die Heimat (The Homeland) - and others in Saxony's far-right extremist scene.

In a post on the Free Saxons Telegram channel, the party denied having anything to do with the manipulation of ballots: "That is of course nonsense, well over 50,000 Saxons have voted with us."