Glitches won’t affect election results, says PKR polls chief

 

One of the technical glitches involved tablet devices used at voting centres having to be rebooted constantly, says PKR election committee chief.

GEORGE TOWN: Technical glitches and miscommunication issues that disrupted the voting process in eight PKR divisions in four states will not affect the final results, says the party’s election committee (JPP) chief Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

She said that fresh elections would only be held in the Hulu Selangor division where the elections were called off as no polling facilities and logistics were provided for the members.

As for the other divisions, Zaliha said the technical glitches were either rectified or the mode was changed to physical voting with ballots issued.

However, she said fresh elections will be held in the affected divisions if there are objections from the members there.

“We would have to talk to the affected divisions that raise objections. If a need arises for a re-vote, we will do so.

“If there are no objections, then I would assume that there are no problems with the (party elections) results,” she told FMT today.

Zaliha was asked to comment on a report by Malaysiakini that quoted her as saying that eight PKR divisions in four states would have to redo their elections due to technical glitches and miscommunication.

Of the eight affected divisions, five are in Kelantan, and one each in Terengganu (Dungun), Kedah (Padang Serai) and Selangor (Hulu Selangor).

She said the fresh elections in Hulu Selangor is expected to take place before the end of the month. “However, the party’s central leadership will make a decision on this.”

When asked for details of the technical glitches that affected the voting process,
she said that the voting tablet devices in some of the centres were not working properly, and had to be rebooted constantly, leading JPP to consider using ballot papers for the voting process.

Zaliha added that despite the technical glitches and the fresh elections in Hulu Selangor, the announcement of the unofficial election results will still take place tomorrow.

“We will try our best to announce the election results as early as possible after the elections end today.”

Meanwhile, she said should there be a tie in any contest, then the candidates will be allowed to open up the ballot boxes and see the result for themselves. - FMT