Putrajaya, Pekan record big spike in voters

Putrajaya recorded the highest percentage in the number of newly registered voters since the 2008 general elections with a whopping 33.8 percent jump.

Close on the heels of the amazing record comes Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's own constituency of Pekan in Pahang with a 28.9 percent rise.

In the parliamentary written reply to Batu MP Tian Chua (left) dated June 14, who had asked Najib about the rise in voter registration since 2007, to which the reply from minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz was that the latest electoral roll the figure stood at 12,032,467.

However, in 2008 general election, only 10.9 million turned out to cast their ballots.

The increment for Putrajaya - whose MP is Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor - is likely to be have been the beneficiary with the influx of civil servants who had been encouraged to change their polling areas to reflect their new residential address.

However, the spike in Pekan voters by 16,823 may seem like an anomaly for what some would describe as a hick town.

Within the Pekan constituency lies the state seat of Cini, which saw a stunning 48.5 percent leap of 6,238 voters.

That rise is almost as high as those recorded in urban parliamentary seats in Kuala Lumpur such as Wangsa Maju (6,506 voters) and Segambut (6,902).

But dotted with some heavy-industry factories employing thousands of new workers, they may have been the contributing factor for the bulge in the Umno bastion of Pahang's voter bank.

Though the seat has been in Najib's firm grasp since he succeeded his father the late Abdul Razak Hussein , still he just managed to squeeze through in 1999 with a slim 241- vote majority.

Selangor highest hike in voters

According to Election Commission data provided to the minister, Selangor - the state that BN had declared to be their frontline battle state - also recorded the highest spike in voters with an average 12.71 percent jump in its 22 parliamentary constituencies.

Within the state itself, Subang set a record of sorts by percentage with 20 percent hike in registered voters. Incidentally the 16,866 voters on the electoral roll since 2008, also earned the constituency the honour of having registered the biggest jump in number of voters.

Contacted by Malaysiakini, PKR Subang MP R Sivarasa (left)expressed mild shock when told of this phenomenon.

"Oh really? I knew that the increase was pretty high, but I didn't know that it was the highest," he said.

Despite that, he said that he was not too alarmed by the numbers, attributing it to aggressive voter registration drive from both sides of the political divide where PKR itself had registered 'thousands of voters' in the constituency .

He also said that high number could be from the development of new townships such as the ones in Damansara Damai and Bukit Lanjan where the residents may have moved their votes to Subang.

"But I think there may be some systematic moving of the voters around, like in Terengganu in 2004 where they brought voters in from elsewhere. We're definitely keeping an eye on it," he said.

Incidentally, Terengganu recorded the second highest growth in percentage of voters with an average of 12.23 percent rise this year.

In this matter, another notable constituency is the Batang Kali state seat which saw the highest leap in the number of voters in the entire country, reaching a record 9,060.

The Hulu Selangor MP - whose constituency covers Batang Kali - MIC's P Kamalanathan- was delighted with the figures, revelling in it as proof that people are becoming aware of their democratic right to vote.

"I am very pleased with the figures in Batang Kali. I think that the people in Hulu Selangor are realising the importance of voting. I think it's healthy," he said.

Like Sivarasa, he also attributed the rising numbers largely to the voter registration efforts by political parties as well as new townships in Bukit Sentosa and Bukit Beruntung.

However, when asked about the illegal voter claims which surfaced back in May, Kamalanathan dismissed it as a problem not just confined to Hulu Selangor.

"It happens elsewhere in the country too," he said.

In the last general election, MIC candidate G Palanivel lost the seat by a marginal 198 votes but Kamalanathan recaptured it in last year's by-election with a majority of 1,725 votes.

PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin had previously alleged that Umno attempted to get citizenship for some 2,000 permanent residents in Hulu Selangor, in return for their support for the BN in the next general elections. The claim has since been rubbished by Umno.

'EC conspiracy against Pakatan'

Despite the public's 'increased awareness to vote' many Pakatan lawmakers are still viewing the new electoral rolls with suspicion.

DAP Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun has all reason to be alarmed as his constituency in the heart of Kuala Lumpur is the only one of two constituencies to record a dip in the number of voters despite his weekly voter registration drive.

While the urban Tanjong constituency in Penang saw a drop of 759 voters, Fong's constituency had a negative growth of 1,581, and definitely nothing with death, according to him.

He said that he has also personally received complaints of Bukit Bintang voters being transferred out of the constituency without their knowledge or consent.

"My branch leader who has been living Bukit Bintang his whole life complained to me that his vote has been transferred to Selangor," he said.

This steady stream of decreasing voters is nothing new to Fong, who claimed that there had been a conspiracy hatched against him before the 2008 polls to move his core voters out when rumours arose that 'an MCA strongman' wanted to lock horns with him.

"That time there was really a conspiracy against me.

"In 2004, I had about 65,000 voters, then 2008 I had 59,000. With the new electoral rolls it definitely is very unusual and I'm looking into this," he said.

However, despite all that hand wringing he concedes that it could be a simple case of voters moving away from the city centre to other more suburban areas.

Taking matters into her own hands is Lembah Pantai MP from PKR Nurul Izzah whose constituency had recorded - the highest percentage rise of voters for the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory with 12.6 percent, or 7,120 voters.

With about 4,700 voters without proper address in the last electoral rolls according to her, she said that she will be consulting her legal advisers on the next step to take.

"Of course with the voter registration drive there will be an increase, but there is just too much discrepancy when close to 4,700 voters are without proper address. We have to identify these things very closely but it is difficult.

"This just reinforces Bersih's demands," she said. - Malaysiakini