PAS leaders have lashed out at the Election Commission's response to the long list of cases of fraudulent voters highlighted by the party.
The EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof had earlier blamed the irregularities highlighted by PAS Youth and others recently on technical glitches, saying “there is no electoral roll in any country in the world that is 100 percent accurate”.
“We have 12.3 million voters, so we have to be very careful so that we will not make mistakes.
“Sometimes, errors occurred due to technical glitch or maybe overlapping of names, but we will not leave the names there and will clean the roll through the Agency Link-up System (ALIS),” said Aziz.
PAS recently responded to a challenge by EC's deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar to furnish proof of phantom voters and other irregularities as claimed by electoral reforms group Bersih 2.0.
The Islamic party found instances of overlapping voters, voters whose records are not found in National Registration Department's data, foreigners and permanent residents registered as voters, suspicious names like 'Kg Baru' being registered as voters, and phantom voters who have duplicate entries.
Kota Bharu member of parliament Wan Abdul Rahim Abdullah called Aziz’s explanation as embarrassing and further eroded public trust in EC.
“And this (erosion of public trust) is against Article 114(2) in the Federal Constitution that states that in appointing members of the Election Commission the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall have regard to the importance of securing an Election Commission which enjoys public confidence,” he added.
Powers as interim government
Abdul Rahim said the public had completely lost trust in EC because of the way it argued to justify its biases.
He reminded the strict criteria in the appointment of election commissioners in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, comprising of senior lawyers and former judges.
“Their job is not restricted by their loyalty to the government as they do not serve the government. And the power given to the EC in these countries is such that they could act as the interim government once Parliament dissolves for election campaign,” said Abdul Rahim.
“Compared to Malaysia, we are really behind,” he added.
PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man on the other hand said EC’s response showed that the commission had no intention at all to side with the people in reforming electoral practices.
On the influx of non-Malaysian voters, Tuan Ibrahim said it seemed the next government would be decided by foreigners.
“Who has been selling the country for the purpose of maintaining power using illegal methods?” he asked.
The Pahang PAS commissioner added that immediate reform was needed for EC to regain public trust, saying this was crucial if the public were to accept the results of the general election.
Meanwhile, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu (pix) urged for the Agong’s intervention to help clean up the electoral roll.
“PAS also requests the Agong to take action against EC’s top management, especially its chief Abdul Aziz and his deputy Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, for failing in their duty.
"We hope Agong will take action against the EC to ensure a fair election,” said Mat Sabu.
- Harakahdaily
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.