Pakatan to hold demo on poll reforms

Its top leadership said the decision was made following the government's failure to meet growing calls for electoral reforms.

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KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Rakyat today announced its plan to hold a mass gathering on Nov 3 following the government’s failure to meet demands for poll reforms, mainly the calls to clean up the electoral roll and media fairness.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu told reporters in Parliament building here that Pakatan is expecting a crowd as big as 500,000 while the venue chosen for the event is the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

“The government has yet to meet the eight core demands made by (poll reform group) Bersih, especially on the need to clean up the electoral roll and media fairness.

“Because Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had suggested that if we want to hold any gatherings we should do it at Bukit Jalil, so we have decided to choose that place to hold our gathering,” he said.

Bersih and opposition leaders have repeatedly accused the Election Commission (EC) of deliberate inaction over allegations of discrepancies in the voters’ roll, calling it a conspiracy to help the present government restore its two-thirds mandate in the upcoming polls.

EC officials denied the allegations, saying its move to adopt the recommendations made by the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on polls reforms proved it was sincere in ensuring a clean and fair election.

The PSC was set up by Najib after several protests held by Bersih and backed by the opposition threatened to shake his government, but he maintained that elections in Malaysia had always been fair.

A national threat
Pakatan states like Selangor claimed 500,000 foreigners had been placed in the state and registered as voters and the EC has so far failed to respond to the allegation, prompting the state government to delay holding polls should the general election be held this year.

Just recently a Sabah daily published a report on the admission by a foreigner that he had purchased a Malaysian identity card for only RM1,000 and he was also a registered voter.

Opposition election monitoring group Jingga 13 said today this strengthens allegations of bias against the EC and there is a continuous joint effort between the EC and the BN to ensure the ruling coalition retain power.

“This is a very serious case. It is a national threat and swift action must be taken,” Fariz Musa, the group’s chief coordinator, told the same press conference.

PKR vice-president Tian Chua said the rally was not only to voice opposition demands but the “aspirations” of all Malaysians who want clean and fair elections.

The gathering will be themed “People’s Uprising” and Pakatan said it will adopt yellow as the event’s main colour. Yellow was also the official colour of the Bersih movement.