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Electoral events

We have issued a variety of materials to promote the integrity of elections and assist in the prevention and detection of malpractice, in collaboration with a variety of partners.

Welsh language resources and guidance

Reporting allegations of electoral malpractice

Electoral fraud is a serious issue, and can involve criminal offences.

Guidance for police in England and Wales

This is joint guidance produced with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to police forces in England and Wales:

ACPO produced additional guidance for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November 2012; this complemented the guidance on preventing and detecting electoral malpractice, which remained current for those elections.

Guidance for police in Scotland

This is joint guidance produced with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) to police forces in Scotland:

Guidance for police in Northern Ireland

Code of conduct for campaigners: postal voting, proxy voting and polling stations

A code of conduct on handling applications to vote by post and postal ballots in Northern Ireland will be available soon.

Allegations of electoral malpractice 

Our fourth annual study of cases of alleged electoral malpractice produced with the Associations of Chief Police Officers, was published in March 2012. It showed that there was no evidence of widespread or systematic attempts to undermine elections or referendums in 2011. Read the report at the link below:

Visit the elections page to find out more about our elections reporting

Previous malpractice reports