Some MEPs have publicly denounced numerous irregularities observed during the election campaign for the Irish referendum on marriage for all
The integrity of the Irish referendum intended to allow the marriage of "two people" regardless of their sex has been seriously compromised. This claim is made by MEPs in an open letter to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz; the letter contains the list of the noted violations in the referendum on 22 May, which would amend the country‘s Constitution.
The signatories have in fact discovered that all of the publically-funded political parties in the Irish Parliament is actively campaigning for a Yes to same-sex marriage and have threatened their members with expulsion unless they follow the party line. Moreover, All of the media, both public and private, is strongly in favor and have even ignored a ruling of Ireland‘s Supreme Court, ordering 50/50 allocation of space to groups on both sides of the debate. They also denounce the intervention of multinational companies operating in Ireland, which have told—by means of a "veiled threat that is not hard to detect"—thousands of their employees to vote Yes and to campaign for this on the social media. In addition, the MEPs also denounce the interference of a foreign billionaire who has spent millions of dollars to support the marriage for all; this is illegal under Irish electoral law, but the Irish Government has not reacted. Finally, even the national police force, which in Ireland is charged with securing the integrity of the voting stations and the vote counting procedure, is actively supporting the Yes side, including through the use of state resources. Therefore—say the signatories of the letter—"unfortunately, a climate of fear and intimidation has pervaded throughout the campaign, creating electoral conditions that are far from ‘free and fair‘."