THE online selling phenomenon e-Bay was at the centre of an election controversy yesterday when a user tried to swap votes with a resident in the Prime Minister's North-East constituency.

A message posted on the Internet auction site appeals for a voter in Sedgefield, County Durham, to back an independent candidate standing against Tony Blair.

In exchange for supporting Reg Keys, whose Red Cap son - Lance Corporal Tom Keys - was killed in Iraq, the trader is offering to back a candidate of his swapper's choice when he goes to the polling station in his own constituency.

But the man states the exchange would be a swap and that he is not attempting to sell his vote - which would be classed as election fraud.

Jane Mayes, spokeswoman for Mr Keys, said the attempt had nothing to do with him.

Mr Keys said: "I'm glad to hear that if you can't make political history in person, you can at least do it on e-Bay."

Election watchdog the Electoral Commission confirmed that vote swapping is illegal if a contract is created or a ballot paper is handed to someone other than its owner.

A spokesman from the Electoral Reform Society said the system is open to abuse and that many less-public swaps could be occurring across the country.

He said: "There have been a few cases of people offering to sell or swap their votes, especially in marginal seats.

"The legalities of it have yet to be tested in court, but it demonstrates why we should move towards a PR (proportional representation) system where everyone's vote counts, otherwise people may be tempted to swap votes like this."

No one from e-Bay was available to comment last night.

It is not the first time the Internet has been used in an attempt to vote tactically.

A website called tacticalvoting.net was launched by independent campaigners encouraging voters to back the front-running candidates standing against Labour MPs with slim majorities.

Yesterday, the people of Sedgefield were urged to vote for Mr Blair by the deputy prime minister of Iraq, Barham Saleh, who hailed him as a saviour.

Mr Saleh told The Northern Echo: "I was watching some of the debate about Iraq and have been pained by some of the comments against the war, which have not been made in our name.

"Mr Blair has shown amazing, excellent leadership by intervening in favour of human rights."

Mr Saleh added: "The people of Britain should be proud of what they have done, and I say thank you to the British armed forces, the British people and to Tony Blair."

Mr Saleh's intervention comes at the end of a week in which Mr Keys has been backed by celebrities such as novelist Frederick Forsyth and TV impressionist Rory Bremner.