'Balai Polis Kerinchi' a voter in PKR seat

More than 90 problematic names were detected out of the 2,180 people in the postal voters list in the master electoral roll for Lembah Pantai, revealed the constituency’s PKR MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.

“We have here 97 voters whose names are not found on the Election Commission’s (EC) website; they appear to able to vote at two places. Other dubious records also appear in the electoral roll updated as of June 2011,” she said.

In a press conference at PKR’s Lembah Pantai service centre today, Nurul Izzah said among the bizarre items was the occurrence of a voter named “Balai Polis Kerinchi” (Kerinchi police station) in the master electoral roll.

“When we crossed checked the details using the voter’s police identification card number, there is a name but in the EC electoral roll it shows otherwise,” she said.

She said the voters identity card number, RF161872, corresponded to a Mohd Faizul Mohd Yusop on the EC online database.

“We don’t know if it’s Balai bin Polis Kerinchi or Balai Polis bin Kerinchi,” jibed Nurul Izzah (right).

The other unsettling problems were of voters whose records are not found on the EC’s website but appear in the electoral roll.

“What’s more unnerving are the voters who are listed in two voting districts, for example, Saripah Arif (RF90153), is listed as a postal voter in Pantai police station as well as Pekan police station, which is all the way in Pahang,” she exclaimed.

In 2008 the urban constituency had about 56,000 voters but as June this year the constituency has about 70,000 registered voters.

“We just can’t trust the system, what will happen if the election is held any time soon? This is the gazetted roll for the third quarter. This is the list we will have to use if the election is held tomorrow,” she said in frustration.

Nurul Izzah had earlier said that the number of postal voters spikedby 1,363 percent in two months - from a mere 149 on Sept 26 this year to 2,180 on Nov 2.

‘Not clean, not fair system’

She added that the dubious records found were not part of the 42,000 doubtful names displayed by the EC since mid-October.

“We have highlighted the problems to the EC, but this is not our job. If you expect us to check every name on the electoral roll why do you need the EC?”

“The system is not clean, not fair and riddled with irregularities,” said Nuril Izzah, adding that there is a pressing need for the implementation of the indelible ink and advance voting in the election regulations.

The EC has admitted to irregularities in its voter database, saying that some of those in the electoral rolls had questionable registration documents.