Two 1961 referendum districts inflated yes votes despite overall fairness

Evidence

In Wanle Weyne, the district commissioner, a former pro-Italian named Ibrahim Police, told the illiterate and poor public that anyone who voted no would be counted as Christian. Moreover, both district commissioners stuffed ballots into the yes boxes to such an extent that, in the end, the two villages had more voters than the resident population. To be sure, these two fraudulent cases marred what was otherwise an overwhelmingly free and fair constitutional referendum. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 588

Categorization

• XREF: Ballot-stuffing and the public denial of literacy echo how referendum manipulation can masquerade within general fairness, similar to the polling coercion patterns described in manipulated imperial-era ballots.
• QUESTION: Ibrahim Police is a remarkable name — a former pro-Italian district commissioner; worth chasing whether there is more biographical material on Italian-era district administrators who retained posts.