List of controversial elections

This is a list of controversial elections arranged by date.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

By continent

Africa

• 1991 Algerian legislative election (Algerian Civil War)
• 1996 Chadian presidential election
• 1997 Chadian parliamentary election
• 1997 Cameroonian presidential election
• 2003 Rwandan presidential election
• 2004 Cameroonian presidential election
• 2005 Ethiopian general election
• 2005 Egyptian presidential election
• 2006 Ugandan general election
• 2007 Nigerian general election
• 2007 Kenyan general election (see also 2007–08 Kenyan crisis)
• 2008 Zimbabwean general election[1][2]
• 2009 Algerian presidential election
• 2009 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
• 2010 Ethiopian general election
• 2010 Rwandan presidential election
• 2010 Ivorian presidential election
• 2011 Ugandan general election
• 2011 Cameroonian presidential election
• 2011 Ivorian parliamentary election
• 2013 Kenyan general election
• 2013 Zimbabwean general election
• 2013 Guinean legislative election
• 2013 Mauritanian parliamentary election
• 2014 Libyan Constitutional Assembly election (Inter-civil war violence in Libya)
• 2014 Algerian presidential election
• 2014 South African general election[3]
• 2014 Malawian general election
• 2014 Mauritanian presidential election
• 2015 Zambian presidential election
• 2015 Sudanese general election
• 2015 Togolese presidential election
• 2015 Ethiopian general election
• 2015 Burundian legislative election (2015 Burundian unrest)
• 2015 Burundian presidential election (2015 Burundian unrest)
• 2015 Tanzanian general election
• 2016 Ugandan general election
• 2016 Republic of the Congo presidential election
• 2016 Djiboutian presidential election
• 2016 Chadian presidential election
• 2016 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
• 2016 Zambian general election
• 2016 Gabonese presidential election
• 2017 Rwandan presidential election
• 2018 Cameroonian presidential election
• 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo general election
• 2019 Malawian general election
• 2019 Mauritian General Election

Asia

• 1986 Philippine presidential election (see also People Power Revolution)
• Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Election, 1987 – The insurgency in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has been linked to the allegations that the election was rigged in favour of the National Conference Party of Farooq Abdullah.[4]
• 1990 Myanmar general election (see also 8888 Uprising, the military junta did not recognize the elections and Aung San Suu Kyi was homearrest)
• 1994 Tajik presidential election
• 1995 Armenian parliamentary election
• 1996 Armenian presidential election[5]
• 1998 Armenian presidential election
• 1999 Kazakh presidential election
• 1999 Tajik presidential election
• 2000 Sri Lankan parliamentary election
• 2003 Armenian presidential election
• 2003 Azerbaijani presidential election
• 2004 Taiwan presidential election
• 2004 Philippine general election (see also Hello Garci scandal)
• 2005 Kazakh presidential election
• 2006 Thai general election (2005–06 Thai political crisis)
• 2006 Taiwanese municipal elections
• 2006 Tajik presidential election
• 2007 Turkmen presidential election
• 2007 Uzbek presidential election
• 2008 Armenian presidential election (2008 Armenian presidential election protests)
• 2008 Cambodian general election
• 2009 Afghan presidential election
• 2010 Myanmar general election
• 2011 Kazakh presidential election
• 2011 Thai general election
• 2012 Turkmen presidential election
• 2012 Myanmar by-elections
• 2012 Armenian parliamentary election
• 2013 Armenian presidential election (2013 Armenian protests)
• 2013 Malaysian general election[6]
• 2013 Pakistani general election
• 2013 Cambodian general election (2013–2014 Cambodian protests)
• 2013 Tajik presidential election
• 2014 Bangladeshi general election
• 2014 Thai general election (2013–14 Thai political crisis)
• 2014 Turkish local elections (2013–14 protests in Turkey)
• 2014 Afghan presidential election
• 2014 Turkish presidential election
• 2015 Uzbek presidential election
• 2015 Kazakh presidential election
• 2015 Azerbaijani parliamentary election
• 2015 Turkish general election
• 2015 Myanmar general election
• 2015 Armenian constitutional referendum[7]
• 2016 Hong Kong legislative election (See 2016 Hong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy)
• 2017 Turkmen presidential election
• 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election
• 2017 Armenian parliamentary election
• 2017 Singaporean presidential election (only one candidate and only one specific ethnic group were allowed to be candidates; the election was annulled)
• 2018 Hong Kong by-election (some candidates were disqualified due to their stance on Hong Kong independence)
• 2018 Cambodian general election
• 2019 Philippine general election
• 2021 Hong Kong legislative election (See Postponement of the 2020 Hong Kong legislative election and 2020 Hong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy)

Central America

• 2013 Honduran general election
• 2017 Honduran general election

Europe

• 1946 Bulgarian republic referendum
• 1946 Romanian general election
• 1947 Hungarian parliamentary election
• 1961 Greek legislative election
• 1992 Serbian general election
• 1993 Serbian parliamentary election
• 1996 Russian presidential election
• 1997 Serbian general election
• 1997 Serbian presidential election
• 2000 Yugoslavian general election
• 2003 Georgian parliamentary election
• 2004 Romanian general election
• 2004 Ukrainian presidential election
• 2005 United Kingdom general election[8][9][10][11][12][13]
• 2006 Belarusian presidential election
• 2006 Italian general election
• 2007 Russian legislative election
• 2011 Russian legislative election
• 2012 Russian presidential election
• 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election
• 2013 Bulgarian parliamentary election
• 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election
• 2014 Ukrainian presidential election
• 2014 Romanian presidential election
• 2015 Belarusian presidential election
• 2016 Serbian parliamentary election
• 2016 Austrian presidential election
• 2016 Romanian legislative election
• 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election
• 2019 European Parliament election in Bulgaria[14]
• 2020 Belarusian presidential election

Middle East

• 2006 Palestinian legislative election
• 2009 Iranian presidential election
• 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
• 2012 Syrian parliamentary election
• 2013 Jordanian general election
• 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election
• 2014 Syrian presidential election
• 2014 Bahraini general election

North America

This is a list of notable elections involving accusations of direct voter fraud or in which the results were procedurally contested, extensively protested, or recognized as fraudulent by a reliable international organization.

Canada

• 2011 Canadian federal election - During the Robocall scandal, Elections Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated widespread reports of robocalls from Conservative Party campaign offices misleading voters from casting ballots by claiming that their polling stations had been changed, an act of electoral fraud and voter suppression under the Canada Elections Act. Although the investigation was initially centered around the riding of Guelph, Ontario, further instances were reported around the country, leading to widespread protests. Although the Commissioner of Canada Elections ultimately refused to press charges against the Conservative Party, a junior staffer named Michael Sona was ultimately convicted of voter fraud.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

Mexico

• 1988 Mexican general election - The election was the first in which Mexico introduced a parallel vote tabulation system in which electoral districts report results by telephone to the Secretariat of the Interior. Although early results showed the National Democratic Front (FDN) candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in the lead, Secretary of the Interior Manuel Bartlett claimed that the new voting system had broken down, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari ultimately was declared the winner. In 1991, President Miguel de la Madrid admitted in his autobiography that the breakdown had been faked and that there were no complete results when Salinas de Gortari was declared the winner. The result was the lowest performance for any winning President since the institution of direct elections for the presidency under the 1917 Constitution, and the PRI's worst electoral performance since dominating Mexican politics after 1929.
• 2006 Mexican general election - The election was plagued by irregularities, and President Vicente Fox was accused of using government resources to favor the PAN candidate Felipe Calderón over the initially heavily-favored PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The official election results gave Calderón a very narrow victory with 35.89% of the votes, with López Obrador in second place with 35,31% of the votes. López Obrador refused to recognize the results and claimed victory for himself; a political crisis ensued, and there were nationwide protests calling for a complete recount of the votes, which was rejected by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. In spite of the protests, Calderón took office as president on 1 December; only ten days later he declared war on the drug cartels, thus beginning the Mexican Drug War, a move widely perceived to have been an extraordinary step to gain popular legitimacy after the chaotic electoral process.
• 2012 Mexican general election - After the PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto was declared the winner, the Yo Soy 132 movement emerged protesting the results due to reports that the PRI had participated in campaign finance violations, electoral fraud, and vote buying by providing poor voters with Soriana store credit cards. Although Peña Nieto was eventually redeclared the winner after a recount endorsed by the United States, unrest continued through Peña Nieto's inauguration.

United States

• 1792 New York gubernatorial election – The Federalist Party candidate John Jay received more votes than the Democratic-Republican Party candidate George Clinton, but on technicalities the votes of Otsego, Tioga and Clinton counties were disqualified and not canvassed, giving George Clinton a slight majority in the official result.
• 1824 United States presidential election - John Quincy Adams became President after winning a contingent election in the House of Representatives due to the absence of a two-third majority in the Electoral College despite the fact that Andrew Jackson, who would win the 1828 presidential election outright, won a plurality of the popular and electoral vote.
• Bleeding Kansas election, March 30, 1855 – An election to decide whether Kansas should be a free state or a slave state involving massive immigration to sway the vote and resulted in post-election violence, including a severe beating of a US Senator by a Congressman. The events it encompasses directly presaged the American Civil War. (See Kansas–Nebraska Act)
• 1876 United States presidential election – One of the most disputed and controversial presidential elections in American history between the Democratic Party's candidate Samuel J. Tilden and the Republican Party's candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, resolved by the Compromise of 1877, which allowed Hayes to become president in exchange for the end of Reconstruction and the withdrawal of federal troops stationed in the South after the American Civil War. Although it is generally agreed that Tilden won a majority of the popular vote, the results of the electoral vote continue to be disputed.
• 1888 United States presidential election - The incumbent Democrat President Grover Cleveland won a majority of the popular vote, but Benjamin Harrison won the electoral vote. Cleveland would later be reelected in the 1892 presidential election.
• 1891 New York State Senate election in Dutchess County
• 1948 United States Senate election in Texas - Lyndon B. Johnson won the Democratic primary over Coke R. Stevenson by only 87 votes. However, Johnson was accused of voter fraud in Duval County, as initially it appeared Stevenson had won but later on more votes were allegedly found for Johnson.
• 1960 United States presidential election[22] - Some accounts claimed that mobster Sam Giancana and his Chicago crime syndicate played a role in Kennedy's victory in Illinois.[22]
• 2000 United States presidential election - After a close election in which the winner was unclear, the Republican candidate George W. Bush won Florida by such a slim margin that a recount of the votes was triggered under Florida state law, beginning a series of legal battles between Bush and the Democratic candidate Al Gore and considerable public controversy. After the completion of a machine recount, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a manual recount due to continued concerns over the validity of the election. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which halted the recount in the Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board decisions, allowing Bush to capture the State of Florida by a 0.0009 percent margin and win the electoral vote.
• 2002 Alabama gubernatorial election - Although the incumbent Democratic Governor Don Siegelman was initially declared the winner by a close majority, the Republican candidate Bob Riley ultimately won after a recount in Baldwin County without the presence of Democratic observers.
• 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal[23] - During the 2002 United States Senate election in New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Republican State Committee hired a telemarketing firm to jam the phone bank used by the Democratic Party in a "get out the vote" operation. The Republican candidate John E. Sununu won a narrow victory over the Democratic candidate Jeanne Shaheen, while James Tobin was charged for lying to the FBI.
• 2004 Washington gubernatorial election - After a close election in which the Republican candidate Dino Rossi was declared the winner in the initial election and the machine count, the Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire was declared the winner after a manual recount. Rossi made an unsuccessful legal challenge to the results and did not officially concede the election for seven months.
• 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota - The Republican incumbent Norm Coleman initially led against the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Al Franken, but the close margin triggered a mandatory recount under Minnesota state law, and Franken was ultimately declared the winner by the Minnesota State Canvassing Board.
• 2016 United States presidential election - The election was widely characterized as divisive and negative and was plagued by scandals such as the Republican candidate Donald Trump's alleged sexual misconduct and the Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's alleged improper use of an email server. No Russian citizen accused of interfering in the election in the form of online influencing from a St. Petersburg-based troll farm has been formally charged and as result no Court will have the opportunity to review evidence to support or dispute accusations of Russian interference that adhere to the standards of the United States Judicial System for proving guilt. Trump ultimately won an upset victory in the Electoral College despite Clinton's victory in the popular vote, and characterized the Russian interference as a "hoax" and "fake news" despite the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community to the contrary. In 2016, the FBI initiated the Crossfire Hurricane investigation over the Russian meddling in the election and links between Trump associates and Russian officials, and President Trump dismissed FBI Director James Comey due to his continuation of the investigation. Due to allegations of collusion with the Russian government, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to lead an investigation. Although the investigation resulted in 34 indictments and 8 criminal convictions, it was refraining from making a judgment about whether Trump could be criminally charged for obstruction of justice due to his conduct during the investigation. In 2020 US Attorney General William Barr initiated a criminal investigation of the Rosenstein/Mueller collusion investigation in response to its questionable basis and procedures.
• 2017 United States Senate special election in Alabama - During the election to fill U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions's vacated Senate seat in Alabama, the Republican Party candidate Roy Moore refused to concede the election after being defeated by the Democratic Party candidate Doug Jones despite pressure from his ally President Donald Trump's administration to do so, claiming that he had been the victim of a voter fraud conspiracy. Moore was additionally plagued by sexual misconduct allegations, including allegations of child molestation.
• 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election - Brian Kemp retained his post as Georgia Secretary of State after his nomination by the Republican Party for Governor of Georgia, leading to conflict of interest allegations. Due to irregularities in voter registration the Republican state government was accused of voter suppression, while U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May ruled that Gwinnett County violated civil rights law by rejecting absentee ballots. After the election was re-certified, the Democratic Party candidate Stacey Abrams ended her campaign but refused to concede the election.
• 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses - The Iowa Democratic Party was initially unable to collect and announce results due to the failure of a mobile application designed to collect the votes. Although the results were eventually released with Pete Buttigieg leading, they have been subject to scrutiny and the Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has advocated a recanvassing of the votes.
• 2020 Wisconsin Democratic primary - During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tony Evers, Wisconsin governor moved to delay the primary election because voters were expected to shelter in place to minimize the spread of the virus. The Wisconsin Supreme Court stepped in and ruled that this was not allowed. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled 5:4 that the election would take place as scheduled, disregarding the fact that only 5 of the 180 polling places would be open due to a lack of poll workers, due to the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump stated, “The things they had in there [the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act] were crazy. They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” It is fair to note that a seat for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court was on the ballot.

Oceania

• 2014 Fijian general election

South America

• 1931 Argentine general election
• 1937 Argentine presidential election
• 1971 Uruguayan general election
• 2000 Peruvian general election[24][25]
• Haitian general election, 2010–2011
• 2013 Venezuelan presidential election[26]
• 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election (Part of Crisis in Venezuela)[27]
• 2018 Venezuelan presidential election (Part of Crisis in Venezuela, led directly to Venezuelan presidential crisis)
• 2019 President of the Federal Senate of Brazil election
• 2019 Bolivian general election (similar to the situation 2017 in Honduras, results allegedly altered after trend indicated a run-off between incumbent Evo Morales and candidate Carlos Mesa)

Examples of electoral fraud

• Reconstruction, an effort to secure the voting rights of former slaves after the American Civil War, ultimately failed in the former Confederate States due to reactionary interests using violence and intimidation against freedmen and political legerdemain (including poll taxes and so-called literacy tests) to disenfranchise African-Americans and ensure the continuing hegemony of élite agrarian interests at the expense of all other interests in the South until 1965.
• Politically enabled by the Reichstag Fire Decree on March 23, 1933, Hitler arrested or ordered the murder of all MPs from the Communist Party of Germany that were unable to flee or hide, and some from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, before intimidating most of the other MPs into supporting him. This helped the NSDAP to get the required two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act, thus giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
• In Romania, the heavily rigged election of 1946 formalized the takeover by Communists and the destruction of multi-party democracy.
• Ferdinand Marcos, fairly elected as President of the Philippines in 1965, remained in power and became increasingly dictatorial and kleptocratic, as he succeeded in marginalizing dissent and opposition through allegedly rigged elections.
• Many dictatorships (and former Warsaw Pact nations) hold show elections, in which results predictably show that nearly 100% of all eligible voters vote and that nearly 100% of those eligible voters vote for the prescribed (often only) list of candidates for office, or for referendums that favour the party in power, irrespective of economic conditions and the cruelties of the government.
• Slobodan Milošević was accused of rigging elections in 1996 and 2000 which was followed by mass popular protests. He resigned in October 2000.[28]
• It was widely held in the Ukrainian media that the Ukrainian election of 2004 was also hit by ballot rigging and voter intimidation on all sides.[29]
• Both tabloid press accusations and several anecdotal public claims of postal vote fraud in both Birmingham and Hackney dogged many aspects of 2001 United Kingdom general election and 2005 United Kingdom general election which were reviewed in the court of appeal.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36] There were also claims made over postal vote fraud and intimidation at the 2004 European and local government elections in Birmingham[37][38][39]
• Both the Ugandan election of 2006[40] and the Kenyan[41] election of 2007 were marred by opposition claims that the ruling party had cheated its way back into power with the heavy use of electoral fraud.[40]

See also

• ACCURATE
• Ballot stuffing
• Electoral integrity
• Voter fraud
• Voting machine

References

1. "ZEC admits voters' roll 'in shambles'", The Standard, 29 March 2008
2. "Opposition reveals rigging plot", Zimbabwe Independent, 27 March 2008
3. McKenzie, Roy (8 May 2014). "Zille: Dumped ballots raises concern about fair election". News24. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
4. "Kashmir's flawed elections". September 14, 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
5. "BBC News | EUROPE | Armenian elections go to run-off". news.bbc.co.uk.
6. 2013 Malaysian general election
7. "Fraud claims mar Armenia referendum". December 7, 2015 – via www.bbc.com.
8. Sparrow, Andrew (22 January 2008). "Voting open to 'childishly simple' fraud, says watchdog". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
9. "British Voting System Open to Fraud – Europe – Around the globe – World – Dalje.com". Javno.com. 2008-01-22. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
10. "TechRepublic – A Resource for IT Professionals". Management.silicon.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
11. "Judge upholds vote-rigging claims". BBC News. 2005-04-04. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
12. Kennedy, Dominic. "Labour election fraud would disgrace a banana republic". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
13. Mason, Barnaby (2005-04-05). "Voting scandal mars UK election". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
14. "Bulgaria Election Body Ignores Questions About EU Elections". Balkan Insight. 2019-06-06. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
15. "Opinion: 'RoboGate', voter fraud in Canada | OurWindsor". Ourwindsor.ca. February 29, 2012. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
16. "Angry Canadians Demand Inquiry into 'Robogate'". Allvoices.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
17. Duffy, John (March 19, 2012). "How do we govern our technology?". Toronto: The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
18. "RoboCon: The Evidence and Scope Means What? | Green Party of Canada". Greenparty.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
19. "robocon – Topics". Macleans.ca. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
20. "Chris Selley: Vikileaks and robocon highlight Ottawa's snowglobe of spite | Full Comment | National Post". Fullcomment.nationalpost.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
21. "Coyne: Robocon is a scandal with no clear pattern". Canada.com. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
22. Greenberg, David (2000-10-16). "Was Nixon Robbed?". Slate.
23. "Opinion | The New Hampshire Phone Scam". The New York Times. 2007-09-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
24. Conaghan, Catherine M. (2005). Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 96.
25. Conaghan, Catherine M. (2005). Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 180–181.
26. "Venezuela opposition demands vote recount, protests flare". Reuters. 2013-04-15.
27. Balogh, Eva S. (April 10, 2018). "Widespread suspicion about electoral fraud in Hungary".
28. "Milosevic Resigns, People Celebrate". Javno.com. 2008-10-06. Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
29. "Revealed: the full story of the Ukrainian election fraud". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
30. Sturgeon, Will (30 March 2005). "UK voters fear election fraud". Silicon.com Law & Policy. CBS Interactive Limited. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
31. "Judge upholds vote-rigging claims". BBC News England. BBC. 4 April 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
32. Kennedy, Dominic (April 5, 2005). "Labour election fraud 'would disgrace a banana republic'". TimesOnline UK News. Times Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
33. Mason, Barnaby (5 April 2005). "Voting scandal mars UK election". BBC News UK. BBC. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
34. Department for Constitutional Affairs. "Department for Constitutional Affairs - Elections". Crown Copyright. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
35. Kimber, Richard (7 Oct 2008). "Elections and Electoral Systems by Country". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
36. "Labour". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
37. "Judge upholds vote-rigging claims". BBC. 4 April 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
38. Gillan, Audrey; Laville, Sandra; Muir, Hugh (13 April 2005). "New fears over postal vote fraud". Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
39. "Labour to halt postal vote fraud but only after election". Times. April 11, 2005. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
40. Campbell, Denis (2006-02-26). "Uganda hit by violence as opposition claims election fraud | World news | The Observer". London: Observer.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
41. "Kibaki hints at power-sharing deal - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2012-11-18.