Anwar: Najib so worried, he needs to add 18,500 voters to defend Pekan

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim took to task Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Election Commission for cheating and padding up the number of voters in Pekan, Najib's constituency, by a staggering 18,500 compared to 2008, which is when the last election was held.

“Such great development there while all the neighbouring constituencies grew so little," a caustic Anwar told a press conference on Thursday. "Umno is fully aware of this as they say the Election Commission has a duty to protect Malays, meaning to protect Umno."

Jump more than 3 times the increase in Kuantan voters

According to Anwar, who is also the adviser for Parti Keadilan Rakyat, this jump in Pekan voters was more than three times the 5,000 increase in Kuantan, an urban seat currently held by PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh.

Fuziah has been the prime force behind the anti-Lynas rare earth project, which the Najib administration is keen to bulldoze through despite Najib promising this morning that he would instantly scrap the project if it was proven to be harmful.

"Talk is cheap," was the immediate response from PKR legal bureau chief Latheefa Koya.

Audit "large-scale conspiracy"

Meanwhile, Anwar demanded that the EC opened its books for a full audit of its voters registration system. Pointing to the Pekan jump, Anwar said it showed “large-scale conspiracy” by the EC to cheat in the registration of voters process.

“We revealed 79,000 voters at 354 addresses which had more than 100 voters registered. Once you include addresses with five, 10, 20, 50 voters, there will be half a million,” said Anwar.

The increase in Pekan as of the third quarter of 2011 is over 30 per cent more than the 58,217 on the electoral roll at March 2008. By comparison, Kuantan saw just over 10 per cent added to 2008 voter base of 47,745 voters there.

Najib retained his Pekan seat in 2008 with a majority of 26,464. But he nearly lost it in 1999 and was weeping openly until postal votes turned the result to his favor. He ended up winning by just 241 votes.

Worst performer so far

So far, Najib is regarded as the worst-performing of Malaysia's 6 prime ministers. He has tried to be cunning, launching Machiavellain plots against Anwar such as Datuk T sex tape and Sodomy II trial, but these have backfired.

Meanwhile, the economy is sinking and just a day ago, the central bank scaled back his previously over-optimistic GDP growth forecast for 2012 to 4-5% from 5-6%.

Najib is expected to call for the 13th general election by June, but there is growing speculation that he will delay the ballot until after the Umno general assembly and vote, due to be held later in the year.

Malaysia Chronicle