Responding to the resignation call by Bersih 2.0, the Election Commission (EC) has urged the electoral reform coalition to first understand the federal constitution and the process of appointing the EC members.
“According to Article 114 of the federal constitution, members of the EC are appointed by the Agong after consulting the Conference of Malay Rulers.
“I hope Bersih can respect the constitution,” EC deputy chairperson Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told Sin Chew Daily yesterday.
Last week Bersih 2.0 called for a third electoral reform rally on April 28 to call for the resignation of all the election commissioners, among other demands.
According to the Chinese daily, Wan Ahmad called on Bersih 2.0 to be responsible and not to politicise the issue of electoral reform.
Although Bersih 2.0 has the right to assembly, it should take into consideration of the importance of national stability, he said.
He also welcomed Bersih 2.0's move to submit the list of all the alleged 560 ‘clone voters’ detected by the coalition in the electoral roll to the EC.
“Malaysia practices rule of law hence everything must be done according to law. If we simply remove the 560 names due to suspicion, it would be very dangerous,” he added.
Wan Ahmad revealed that the EC has received the final report of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform, and the commission will study all the 22 recommendations.
“We are always open to suggestions to reform the electoral system, but electoral reform is not something that can be done immediately because some of it involves law amendments and other issues,” he was quoted as saying.
Wan Ahmad also told the New Starts Times that the EC will call a meeting next week to discuss the PSC report.
“The meeting is tentatively next week. It will involve all our panel members.
“We will look into and deliberate on each of the recommendations in detail,” he told the English daily in a text message.
Wan Ahmad said the EC will also study another demand by Bersih 2.0 to allow international observers to monitor the next general election.
It should not be a big problem to implement the demand, he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.