Agents of the National Police are searching this Friday several official offices of the City Council of the autonomous city of Melilla in the framework of the investigation into the alleged purchase of votes in the municipal elections held on May 28, police sources have reported.
The operation, under summary secrecy, is related to the arrest in the last week of the campaign of the municipal elections of a dozen people for alleged electoral fraud, including Mohamed Al-Lal, number 3 on the Coalition for Melilla lists and councilor for Districts, Youth and Citizen Participation of the Melilla government until he was dismissed by the current president of Melilla, Eduardo de Castro.
Another of the detainees was the son-in-law of Mustafa Aberchán, leader of the Coalition for Melilla (CpM), who was previously convicted of an electoral crime.
The operation began with the dismantling of an alleged plot to recruit mail-in votes in exchange for money, which, if not detected, could have jeopardized the cleanliness of the elections. Investigative proceedings try to determine the connection with a local political party.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, the process to request a vote by mail in Melilla ended with 11,707 applications registered, validating 2,572 votes, which represents 22% of the total.
