Councillor resigns following electoral fraud charges

Milad El-Halabi has resigned from the Moreland City Council after he was charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud over alleged tampering with postal votes in the most recent election.

Prominent barrister Robert Richter, QC, made the announcement for his client on Thursday at a hearing before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which is considering whether to throw out the results of the election in the council’s north-west ward in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Milad El-Halabi.Credit:Facebook

His resignation will likely lead to a countback and the election of a new councillor.

Cr El-Halabi has been suspended from the Labor Party, a spokeswoman confirmed. He was among three people charged on summons last Thursday for allegedly tampering with the election in the ward, which covers Pascoe Vale, Glenroy and Hadfield in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Mr Richter confirmed Cr El-Halabi and the other two people charged intend to plead not guilty and fight the allegations.

Police have been investigating since the October 2020 postal vote after an unusual number of people complained they had not received a ballot pack, prompting concerns they could have been stolen from mailboxes and fraudulently filled in.

The Victorian Electoral Commission was required by law to declare the election, and four councillors including Cr El-Halabi took their north-west ward seats on Moreland City Council. More than a year has passed and many other candidates have complained about the pace of the VCAT proceedings.

Eighty-three suspicious ballot packs were not counted towards the election and were handed to police unopened. Detectives have been conducting forensic tests on saliva, fingerprints and handwriting samples from the seized ballots. They also brought in IT experts as part of the investigation.

Candidates in the poll have recently been inspecting the voting patterns of the ballots, which are suppressed.

Police confirmed a 59-year-old man, a 51-year-old woman and a 25-year-old woman, all from Pascoe Vale, were each charged on summons with conspiracy to cheat and defraud, and conspiracy to commit an offence – making a false document and theft.

“The trio have also all been charged with the Local Government Act offences of utter forged ballot material in connection with an election and interfere with ballot materials submitted or lodged in connection with an election,” a police spokeswoman said last week.

A filing hearing for the three accused is listed for later this month in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

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