BN broke election laws with RM1.5b funding, claims DAP

A DAP lawmaker has alleged that BN has broken election laws by spending RM1.5 billion during the 13th general election (May 5, 2013).

According to Ng Wei Aik (Tanjong MP), the ruling coalition had not abided by the Election Offences Act 1954 under Section 19(1), which specifically stated that “the amount allowed for campaigning in the general election must not exceed RM200,000 (for a member of parliament candidate) and RM100,000 (for a state assembly candidate)”.

“As BN had contested in a total of 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state assembly seats over 12 states during the last general election, the maximum amount of campaign funds they were allowed to spend were RM44.44 million (parliament candidacies) and RM50.5 million (state assembly candidacies) which total up to RM94.9 million,” he said in a report submitted to MACC chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah today.

Since BN has revealed it had spent RM1.5 billion during the last general election, that means it has spent 15 times more than the maximum amount allowed by election laws,” added Ng.

He urged that an immediate and thorough investigation be conducted on the campaign spending of BN and its chairman, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The report, which was also signed by Rasah MP Teo Kok Seong, also called for the disqualification of all BN representatives for exceeding the Election Commission’s campaign spend limit.

To uphold the integrity of the Election Commission, the DAP duo also urged the relevant authorities to conduct a background check on BN parliamentarians and assemblypersons.

“These candidates had allowed themselves to be sworn in as trusted representatives of the people despite having broken electoral laws,” added Ng.

News of BN having spent RM1.5 billion for GE13 began dominating headlines five days ago, when blogger Din Turtle uploaded a video of former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir making that claim.

Mukhriz’s statement was later confirmed by Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron. -Mkini