Lawyers open arguments in vote fraud case

OTTAWA – The main event has started in a Federal Court case into allegations of voter suppression in the last federal election.

Lawyers for eight voters challenging the outcomes in six constituencies are finally starting to make their arguments, after spending much of the morning and part of Monday on procedural matters.

They say fraudulent or misleading phone calls in the ridings — all won by Conservative candidates — may have affected the outcomes.

They are asking the court to throw out the election results in those ridings.

The hearings have so far dealt with a champerty and maintenance motion brought forward by the Conservative party lawyer.

Champerty and maintenance refers to a third party meddling in and benefiting from someone else’s lawsuit