JUST AS DAVID Cameron and company were giving themselves at pat on the back for keeping the UK together, accusations of vote fixing in the Scottish referendum have emerged.
An online petition has received almost 85,000 names since being set up after last Thursday’s referendum returned a ‘No’ vote.
The demands of the petition are for the referendum to be re-held and for the new vote to be counted by an impartial international body.
The calls of foul play have emerged despite acceptance of the result by ‘Yes’ campaign leader Alex Salmond. During his concession speech on Friday, he said, “a majority, decided not at this stage to become an independent country. And I accept that verdict of the people.”
The past number of days have seen people leveling the accusations of vote rigging over social media.
The referendum saw a turnout of over 85%. This meant around 4.2 million people took part in the vote. The ‘No’ side took the victory with a 55.3% majority who wanted to stay in the UK.
If the result of the referendum was to differ in a re-run, a swing of around 250,000 votes would be needed.
The allegations of foul play come from analysis of Sky News’ footage from Friday that the petition claims shows vote rigging. The alleged incident shows a polling station official in Glasgow.
When contacted by TheJournal.ie, Police Scotland issued the following statement:
Police Scotland takes the safety and security of the Independence Referendum extremely seriously and is working with partner agencies including local authorities and the Chief Counting officer to ensure the integrity of the ballot. Any crime committed will be investigated appropriately.
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