Report: Cabinet agrees to use indelible ink in next GE

The cabinet has agreed to use indelible in the next general election, according to a Chinese language daily.

However, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz claimed that he has no knowledge of such a decision.

Quoting sources, a report in today's Sin Chew Daily said the decision was made during the cabinet meeting yesterday.

The report said that the cabinet was of the view that indelible ink was more suitable, compared with biometric system proposed by the Election Commission (EC), and has been successfully used by many countries to eliminate multiple voting.

Contacted today, Nazri's reply on the report was, “I also don't know”.

He clarified that the cabinet decision was to let the proposed parliamentary select committee (PSC) to decide on all issues related to electoral reform.

Previously Nazri had told Malaysiakini that all the proposals regarding to electoral reform should be discussed and decided by the PSC on electoral reform.

The PSC, which will be set up during the next parliamentary sitting which begins on Oct 3, was proposed by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak last month as a result of intense pressure from the opposition and civil society to reform the electoral system.

The opposition has yet to decide whether or not to join the PSC, claiming that Najib had failed to show his commitment to electoral reform.

They want Najib to guarantee that the next election will only be held after the electoral reform measures recommended by PSC are implemented.

Nazri also confirmed that a constitutional amendment was not necessary to implement the use of indelible ink.

“I have checked with the Attorney-General's (Chambers). (There is) no need to amend the constitution. But it should be discussed by the PSC first,” Nazri had said.

U-turn in 2008

Last month, EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Yusof (right) told the media that if the use of indelible ink was to be made mandatory, a constitutional amendment would have to be tabled in Parliament and that it could only be passed with a two-thirds majority vote.

His predecessor, Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, had cited the same reason incancelling the use of indelible ink just four days before polling for the 2008 general election.

Rashid had said the use of indelible ink could infringe the constitutional right of a voter to cast his vote, as the federal constitution allows those who refuse to have their fingernails marked with the ink to still be issued with a ballot.

He claimed that the loophole could only be removed through a constitutional amendment.

Rashid's argument was then backed by attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who apparently has changed his mind this time, according to Nazri.