EC: Section 9A needed to prevent election delays

Section 9A of the Election Act is needed to prevent people from stalling the electoral process by challenging the electoral roll, said Election Commission (EC) deputy commissioner Wan Ahmad Wan Omar.

“If we open the electoral roll to be challenged, then when can we hold elections?” he retorted, when asked at a press conference today.

He was responding to Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s challenge to open the electoral roll to the court’s scrutiny if the EC “hasnothing to hide”.

Section 9A of the Election Act bars the court from scrutinising the electoral roll once it has been gazetted. 

It was enacted after one such successful legal challenge in the landmark 1999 Likas election petition that saw the election results nullified over a problematic roll.

Courts have since used Section 9A to rule against any legal challenges to the electoral roll.

[More to follow]