It was on Monday that news broke of suspected election fraud in Dalarna.
A report of "improper influence during voting" was received by the Public Prosecutor's Office's National Unit against Corruption on September 1. The preliminary investigation was closed, but has now been reopened.
"At first it was closed because I thought there were problems with the evidence. Then new information came to light that made it reasonable to look at it again," says prosecutor and head of the preliminary investigation, Oskar Edvardsson.
Edvardsson does not want to comment on what the new information is.
"I won't go into that," he says.
Three suspects
Documents from the Swedish Prosecution Authority that SVT has seen include three suspects. All identities are confidential.
"There is reason to assume that crimes that fall under public prosecution have been committed," it says about one of the people.
"There is no one who has been informed of the suspicion. So whether there is anyone suspected or not I don't want to go into it," Edvardsson tells SVT.
Expressen has reported that the anonymous police report contains information that people allegedly drove voters from disadvantaged areas and provided them with marked ballots.
Mohamed Abdukardir Ali received 648 personal votes and won Dalarna's only parliamentary seat for the Left Party. He is said to have taken a timeout in consultation with the party and says he is shocked by the information about suspected election fraud.
“No need to sue”
According to information provided to Dagens Nyheter, the initial closure of the preliminary investigation caused both confusion and frustration among police officers in the Bergslagen region who were carrying out the police work. Among other things, police officers who participated in the search operation reportedly wanted to search the car they had searched to look for marked ballot papers.
Preliminary investigation leader Edvardsson is said to have refused such a search warrant.
It's difficult for me to comment on it. If I'm going to comment on it, I have to get into the details, which I won't. But it may be that everything that comes from different sources doesn't always have to be true, says Edvardsson.
According to Edvardsson, it may take a couple of weeks before more information is available to the public.
Normally, you don't share information from a preliminary investigation. But it all depends on what happens, and what you find or don't find, he says.
