PvdA candidate in election scandal

Osman Suna, labor party PvdA’s candidate for Soest has been caught on camera telling a congregation in a mosque to bring him the ballots of voters who will not cast their votes.

PowNews revealed this on Monday night; it smuggled a hidden camera into the mosque that recorded Suna as he told the mosque “if someone says ‘I don’t know if I want to vote’ you can bring (us) this ballot and give it to our board. They can then have someone else vote on your behalf.” He is also heard saying: “It would be a pity to let all those votes go to waste.” PowNews, which is known not to shy away from a scandal, then had a ‘secret reporter’ approach Suna with the question if he still needed ballots, which seemed to enthuse Suna. “Go ahead, gather many … and call me when you’re ready, then we can take care of it.” Later on, in an interview with PowNews reporter Rutger Castricum the politician at first denied that he had been trying to commit what could be considered election fraud. “Neither me, not my party does that,” he said at first, but he changed his tone when he was shown the footage of his speech. “This was not supposed to happen,” he said. PvdA-leader Hans Spekman has agreed that Suna’s behavior looks much like election fraud. “And that is against the rules. If my hunch is confirmed, I will ask him to withdraw,” Spekman said. He said that if Suna did something that is against the criminal code, like conscripting votes, the party will initiate proceedings to remove him. “(And) I think this is conscription,” said Spekman.