RCI OR NOT, NO DELAYING TACTICS: PKR insists EC resignations, re-elections in 30 seats

VIDEO INSERTED PKR leaders ruled out accepting a Parliamentary Select Committee to oversee the Election Commission but said they would be willing to support a Royal Commission of Inquiry into alleged fraud in the 13th general election, depending on its terms of reference and provided that it was not used to delay "clear" issues of fraud that had already been identified and needed immediate solutions to.

"The backbone to all this discussion is the fraud in the the 13th general election. For example, an RCI cannot delay the immediate resignation of the Election Commission and on this there is no compromise and I think Prime Minister Najib Razak knows this," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli told a press conference.

"And for those seats where there is proven irregularities and fraud, with or without RCI, there must be re-elections in these 30 seats."

He also added that there must be no attempt to re-define the boundaries and sizes of the constituencies until a new Election Commission is appointed that is acceptable to the Opposition and civil society leaders.

Once bitten, twice shy

Since the controversial May 5 ballot that was marred by claims of massive vote-rigging and irregularities, the Malaysian Opposition has refused to concede defeat, claiming that Prime Minister Najib razak's Umno-BN government lacked "legitimacy".

The Umno-BN won 133 seats in the federal Parliament versus the Pakatan Rakyat's 89 but only managed to garner 47% of the total votes cast versus 51% by the Pakatan.

The Pakatan has since launced nationwide rallies demanding Najib's resignation as well as those of the EC chief and deputy chief. Najib has tried to deflect the public outcry by announcing the formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee to oversee the functions of the Election Commission.

However, Rafizi pointed that such a PSC would be dominated by BN parliamentarians and would therefore be ineffective, as had been proven by a previous PSC on cleaning up the electoral system which he said had ended without any reforms carried out, leading to GE13 being the most "dirty" ballot ever.

"We won't be fooled twice," said Rafizi.

Ex-EC chief

Two weeks ago, Kedah Gerakan Youth had sprung the suggestion of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate allegations of electoral fraud raised by Pakatan Rakyat.

“The RCI can recommend ways to improve our country’s electoral system,” Gerakan leader Tan Keng Liang had said in a statement.

The former chairman of the Election Commission Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman had then entered the fray, agreeing that the problems besetting the Malaysian electoral system far exceeded the scope of a PSC.

According to Abdul Rashid, the system subjected to decades of gerry-mandering and similar abuse by past BN administrations required a major structural revamp. He opined an RCI was better equipped to do this job rather than the PSC mooted by Najib.

Malaysia Chronicle