"We have agreed that Mohamed Abdukardir Ali will take a timeout and will not serve as a member of parliament from the beginning of the mandate period due to the ongoing investigation into election fraud," writes V's party secretary Maria Forsberg to TT.
"These are extremely serious allegations against everyone involved. If we can assist the investigation in any way, we will. I cannot stress enough that we take this very seriously and we welcome the fact that this is now being investigated."
It has not yet been confirmed whether Mohamed Abdukardir Ali is the subject of the preliminary investigation. Nor has anyone been charged with a crime, according to prosecutor Oskar Edvardsson.
Even a Left Party member who appears set to take a seat on the Borlänge city council through personal votes is taking a break from politics until everything is sorted out, reports Borlänge Tidning.
Pre-marked ballot papers
The investigation is about marked ballots in the parliamentary election, according to information in several media outlets. According to an anonymous police report, people are said to have driven voters and provided them with marked ballots. The crime classification in the investigation is improperly influencing voting.
Mohamed Abdukardir Ali received 648 personal votes and won Dalarna's only parliamentary seat. He himself tells SVT that he is shocked by the information about suspected election fraud.
That's completely, completely wrong. I didn't do it. I know the law. I've been trusted in every district in Dalarna.
The Left Party's press service does not want to answer questions about Mohamed Abdukardir Ali's timeout, but refers to the party secretary's statement.
It is unclear whether he intends to attend when the new Riksdag convenes for the roll call on Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Riksdag's Chamber Office had not received any notification of absence, nor any application for leave or sick leave.
Suspicion is harmful
Several representatives from the red-green parties have reacted strongly to the criminal investigation during the day.
"It is very serious when there are suspicions of electoral fraud in connection with an election," says S party secretary Tobias Baudin in a written comment.
The two party secretaries Katrin Wissing (MP) and Hannes Hervieu (C) also take the information, which Dagens Industri was first to report, seriously.
Victoria von Uexküll, secretary general of the business organization Institute Against Bribery, believes that mere suspicions are harmful.
This shows how trust can be damaged even at the slightest suspicion. You become worried and wonder, can you trust that the election has otherwise gone well? Can you trust that institutions have handled this correctly?
