A chairman of a commune-level People’s Council in Hanoi has been expelled from the Communist Party of Vietnam for cheating during the election of legislators at all levels last month.

Phung Minh Chien, vice-chairman of the election committee in Me Linh District, confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday that the disciplinary action had been imposed on Nguyen Xuan Hung.

Hung is deputy secretary of the Party Committee, chairman of the People’s Council, and chairman of the election committee in Trang Viet Commune under Me Linh District.

He was also a candidate during the election of members to the Trang Viet People’s Council for the 2021-26 tenure.

Nguyen Huu Hoan, head of election team No. 4 in Trang Viet Commune, was also expelled from the Party for cheating during the election.

Residents across Vietnam cast their votes to elect deputies to the 15th National Assembly and members to people’s councils at all levels for the 2021-26 tenure on May 23.

After the election concluded on the same day, authorized officials at election team No. 4 in Trang Viet Commune examined the ballot box and noticed that there were a total of 1,303 ballots, while only 1,228 had been distributed to local residents.

A probe later revealed that Hung had discussed his plan with Hoan on manipulating the election result.

Hung took advantage of his position to add 75 ballots, on which he had crossed out all the names of other candidates.

He asked two militiamen to help him put the illegitimate votes into the ballot box.

Local authorities are reviewing the case to determine suitable penalties for the two militiamen.

Due to the violation, the election of members to the People’s Council in Trang Viet Commune at election team No. 4 will be re-organized on Sunday.

Hung has been eliminated from the list of candidates.

A similar decision has been applied to election team No. 4 in Hoang Long Commune, Phu Xuyen District after a serious violation was detected.

Hanoi had an election turnout rate of 99.16 percent, with the participation of over 5.4 million voters.

On May 27, the Hanoi election committee announced the list of 95 delegates to the municipal People’s Council for the 2021-26 tenure.

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