Würzburg, Germany (dpa) - The mayor of a small town in the southern German state of Bavaria has resigned after admitting he had committed electoral fraud, local prosecutors have said.

Following local elections on March 8, the mayor of Wülfershausen an der Saale, with a population of around 1,500, had been recently confirmed in office, a post he has held since 2018. The politician, from the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-only sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives, is alleged to have opened postal voting documents and falsified several ballot papers for the municipal council election, the mayoral election and the district council election, according to the public prosecutor's office in Schweinfurt. He then resealed the ballot envelopes or replaced them with substitute envelopes provided by the municipality.

"The number of ballot papers falsified in each case is the subject of ongoing investigations," the public prosecutor's office said.

Mayor manufactured additional votes for his wife and himself

The mayor admitted election fraud during police questioning on Tuesday. His portrait has been removed from the municipality's website. During his interrogation, he said that he had wanted to support his wife, who ran for the municipal council, according to a spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office. However, investigators said the man also allegedly manufactured additional votes for himself. Municipality figures show that 1,278 citizens were entitled to vote, with 472 valid votes cast for the now accused incumbent.

Despite repeated requests, the suspect did not comment on the allegations to German news agency dpa. The presumption of innocence applies until a final verdict is reached.

The mayoral election will be repeated, the Rhön-Grabfeld district office said. A by-election will be ordered for the postal vote in the local council election. The date has yet to be set. The authority will also initiate disciplinary proceedings against the accused. The village's official business is currently being handled by the deputy mayor.

Under the German Criminal Code, electoral fraud can be punished with a prison sentence of up to five years.

Author: smart.marissa

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