Polls reform PSC needs to iron out 5 more issues

After holding an unprecedented series of public hearings nationwide and panel meetings over the past six months, the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms has agreed on 16 key issues.

The nine-member panel led by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili however has yet to come to a consensus on five other remaining issues, said a source familiar to the workings of the PSC.

Some of the crucial pending matters are:

• political campaign funding

• appropriate length of campaign period

• candidates withdrawing after nomination day

• voting for those residing overseas

• postal votes for media personnel

The source told Malaysiakini that the committee has, in principle, agreed on a mechanism to allow Malaysians living overseas to vote, provided that they return home every five years.

"The committee is in the process of fine tuning the mechanism," said the source.

The PSC, which is in its final leg of ironing out the details of its report due on April 2, is also having difficulties deciding on an appropriate length for the electoral campaign.

"Some members are for 21 days campaigning period, while the majority prefer limiting it to 10 days," the source added.

Public funds to finance candidates?

The committee has also reached an agreement on establishing a mechanism to monitor political funding where contesting parties must declare their source of finance.

However, on whether political parties should be funded by the state to ensure a level-playing field, sources said that BN MPs on the committee are arguing for a ‘first past the post' mechanism.

Under the ‘first past the post' system, the candidate with the most votes is entitled to a significantly larger chunk of public funding.

While it is understood that the Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers are for a ‘proportional representation' mechanism, where funds awarded fairly reflect the proportion of support gained by each competing party.

As for granting media personnel the rights to register as postal voters - a move welcomed by the Election Commission (EC) - the panel members are of two minds.

"One side is agreeable to the move because some reporters have to be able to vote early, especially if they are posted at locations far away from their polling stations.

"Others argue that they don't trust in the postal voting system as it can be easily rigged."

Cleaning the electoral rolls

Another issue that needs to be finalised is disallowing candidate to withdraw their nomination as an election candidate.

Currently, nominees are given the chance to withdraw their candidacy during the 48-hour cooling off period and they are entitled to have their hefty deposits returned.

Among others, the 16 issues which have been agreed on includes allowing equal media access to competing parties. The source said the committee will be proposing to the EC to provide a media guideline to the relevant ministry.

The source added that the members are also keen on forming a special committee tasked to oversee the ‘cleaning' of the electoral rolls.

Last week, Pakatan representatives distributed copies of Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (Mimos) papers where defectsin the electoral database were unearthed.

According to them, there are 79,098 voters registered in 354 addresses, with at least 100 voters in each address, leading to the call for the special monitoring committee to be formed.

The EC has identified 40,025 names which are labeled as "doubtful" but said the commission was powerless to remove them.

The PSC plans to present its final report to Parliament next Monday.