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Jailed candidate claims unfair election |
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LONDON (Reuters) - A jailed candidate standing against Prime Minister Tony Blair in his Sedgefield constituency says the election has not been a free or fair contest. Anti-nuclear campaigner Helen John, who is serving a three-month sentence for damaging a U.S. military base, said her campaign had been impeded from the start. Media interviews were denied and the Home Office refused her request to make an escorted visit to monitor the counting of the vote, she told Reuters by telephone from Askan Grange Open Prison near York. "Because of the impediments I now plan to inform the electoral officer of Sedgefield that this has not been a free and fair and even handed contest," she said. "Blair had all the publicity and the other people standing in that constituency are not even known," she added. John's main campaign platform is her opposition to the anti-ballistic missile programme nicknamed "Star Wars", in which the U.S. military base at Menwith Hill near Harrogate could play a pivotal role. A spokesman for the Home Office said John had been advised that she could appoint a third party to act as a counting agent on her behalf. Women wearing green, white
and purple sashes -- the colours of the suffragettes -- would represent
her at the counting, she said. |
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(See also: Protesters vigil outside prison where UK anti-BMD candidate held; Prime Minister hears direct request to say "No" to Star Wars; UK candidate refused access to official vote count; Helen John Continues Campaign against Tony Blair from new prison; Blair election rival jailed for anti-missile protest; Helen John to run against Blair in Sedgefield on a No Weapons in Space Platform; Helen John's election communication to Sedgefield) |
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