Branch stacking

In Australian politics, the term branch stacking is used to describe the act of recruiting or signing up members for a local branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselections of candidates for public office, or to inordinately influence policy of the party. Allegations of such practices have become controversial in Australia after several inquiries or contests which received mainstream media attention, and most political parties now have clauses in their constitutions which allow "head office" intervention to resolve alleged stacking, or other allegations of fraud, with penalties for those who engage in it. Branch stacking itself is legal under Australian law, being internal party matters, but some activities like providing false information to the Australian Electoral Commission, such as numbers of members, can be prosecuted as fraud.