Expat fury at votes fiasco

THOUSANDS of expats lost their chance to vote because of a new glitch in the electoral registration system, it appeared last night.

Complaints poured in from Britons around the world who said they had registered to vote in good time, but their postal ballots had failed to arrive in time or at all.

The election watchdog, the Electoral Commission, announced an inquiry into the fiasco, which follows months of controversy over registration reforms that saw a million people drop off the voting rolls.

Any loss of expat votes is most likely to hit the Conservatives hardest because those who have moved abroad are overwhelmingly retired and OAPs are the age group most likely to vote Tory. The loss of expat votes may also have a crucial effect in constituencies won and lost by the narrowest margins. Disappointed voters were using social media to protest about the chaos yesterday.

Kathryn Harrop, living in Switzerland, did not receive her postal ballot and was then denied the chance to use a proxy voter in her Selby and Ainsty constituency. The 22-yearold translator tweeted: ‘Definitely voting via proxy next time – postal vote never arrived, not allowed to vote via emergency proxy.’

Hundreds of defence personnel are also believed to have been affected. Ministry of Defence sales assistant Michelle Graham, said: ‘It’s appalling the postal vote wasn’t sent to us with adequate time to send it back.’

An Electoral Commission spokesman said: ‘We are aware there are some expatriates who have not received their ballot papers. We will be considering the matter in our report on the election.’