EC refutes claim of ‘shifting voters’

The Election Commission claims it is acting 'within the law' and that these voters were moved as a result of 'correction of locality' process.

PETALING JAYA: The Election Commission (EC) refuted claims by PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh that it was using legal loopholes within the election laws to manipulate the electoral roll.

Fuziah had reportedly said that she found over 31,000 cases nationwide of voters whose polling constituency has been shifted to another state or parliamentary constituency despite their voting address remaining unchanged.

Fuziah, who is also the Kuantan MP, made similar allegations last month when she claimed that the EC was using “divisions” (belah bahagi) under section 7 of the Elections Act 1958 to move voters without their knowledge.

Fuziah highlighted the issue again last Friday following reports the day before that Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim’s voting constituency had been changed from Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS) parliamentary constituency to neighbouring Lembah Pantai constituency, according to the latest electoral roll.

His voting locality has also shifted to Rumah Kakitangan Universiti under the university locality.

Speaking to FMT, EC deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said that these voters were moved as a result of “correction of locality” process.

He explained that this was a process done to synchronise the polling districts to reflect the size of the constituencies on the ground.

He said that this was how Khalid’s voting constituency had also changed.

“EC is aware of this. It is called ‘correction of locality’ process. We take the MB’s case. He registered as a voter under the Seksyen 16/2 Petaling Jaya address,

“That address was listed under the Petaling Jaya Selatan parliamentary constituency but when we re-did every locality on the ground, we checked every state. We found that the Kawasan University locality fell under the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency,” Wan Ahmad said.

“In that area only the 16/2 stretch fell under the Lembah Pantai constituency. So it had to be changed. Residents in Jalan 16/6, 16/5, 16/4 all still fall under the Petaling Jaya Selantan parliamentary constituency.”

Issue politicised

Wan Ahmad said that EC had stopped this exercise since January 2011.

He said the EC has “asked for all state directors to freeze their presentation over the matter”.

He added that the EC decided to stop this exercise following the case of 228 voters who voted in Hulu Selangor but were registered under the nearby Selayang constituency during the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election, as the issue was politicised.

However, he conceded that this case showed that voters could indeed be shifted to another parliamentary constituency.

He said that “correction of locality” was done using the Electronic-Geographical Information System (E-GIS) which made drawing of borders easier.

The E-GIS can accurately detects potential geographical hindrance to drawing borders such as rivers and mountains, he said.

It can also detect possible polling stations making it easier to sync the locality’s electoral borders with the borders on the ground.

Wan Ahmad also took the opposition to task, claiming that it was politicising these issues and misleading the public.

“The opposition doesn’t understand the technicality of the process and is constantly misguiding the public.

“What we are doing is a correction exercise which is under the EC authority. It is not reviewing of electoral boundaries or delineation, which needs a simple majority from Parliament,” he added.

Apologetic EC

Wan Ahmad said that the EC has passed the eight-year mark when it should conduct another delineation exercise but has pull the brakes on it as the country draws closer to a general election.

“We didn’t want an election to interfere with our work. So we are not doing the delineation exercise now but will wait till the election is over,” he said.

One of the main issues with this movement of voters was that it was done silently; even Khalid was unaware of the change of his voting constituency.

When asked why these voters were in the dark, Wan Ahmad admitted that the EC maybe at fault in the past due to overwhelming duties.

“In the past, we have always informed the political parties of the change. We have also always told our state officers to disperse the information.

“I must admit that they may have had too many things to do that they have overlooked it. We have scolded them many times over this,” he said.

Asked if the voters will now be informed of the changes, he said that these voters will be informed before the next election.

Wan Omar added that since these voters were already in the gazetted list, political parties or individual voters may check the list themselves as well.