Fuziah: Is EC helping Umno/BN with draft electoral rolls move?

PKR Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh today questioned if the Election Commission's (EC) decision to stop providing copies of draft electoral roles during the display period was meant to help Umno/BN retain power in the coming general election.

"In light of the massive revelation of various problems detected in the electoral rolls lately, is the decision to stop distributing electoral roll draft copies a political tactic? How rational is the EC's decision?

"Is this an effort to hide something from public knowledge ? Or, is this a tactic to help Umno/BN retain power in the upcoming general election ?" she asked in a press statement.

The PKR leader said the "shocking and unreasonable" decision raised concerns among the public about the fairness in the electoral process.

"I see the March 28 decision as something not transparent, that will neglect the democracy process in the country," she said.

"I want to stress that the electoral roll draft copies are important to any party as a source of reference for voters to check the validity (of their registration). The roll will include the information of new voters and the voters who have been shifted to another area," she said.

"How (are we going) to identify if they are phantom (voters) or genuine (voters), or foreigners who were given MyKad and granted right to vote?" she asked.

Any attempt to stop politic parties, which have vested interests, to obtain a copy of draft electoral rolls will only hinder and thwart the process of checking, she said. 

"I am worried that this will open up opportunity for certain quarters to take advantage of the weakness to register phantom voters in certain constituencies."

Citing the 1,090 new voters registered in her constituency during the last quarter of 2016, she said many voters were being registered without their knowledge and this is against the law.

"We also found that voters who changed their address in MyKad, have been transferred to another polling district without their knowledge. This is against the law," she said, adding there were cases where EC had failed to put voters at the polling district according to their addresses.

EC declined to provide copies of draft electoral rolls during the display period as it feels that the public display is sufficient to inform voters of their status, said it secretary Abdul Ghani Salleh.

Ghani said according to Regulation 13 of the Election Regulations 2002, draft electoral roll has to displayed at a gazetted public area for 14 days, to show a list of voters who are seeking to be included into the roll and those seeking to change their voting areas.

As interested parties can still view the roll, the new directive does not restrict access, he said.

The draft rolls were previously given in PDF format for free.

The decision was also condemned by electoral watchdog Bersih, who said this limits avenue for those wanting to challenge the roll.

"Abdul Ghani needs to explain how checking can be done thoroughly and accurately with the copies of electoral roll drafts prepared by EC.

"I remind the EC that the people expect them to conduct a clean and fair election...This is regressive action. Worse, EC chooses to remain silent on the (relevant) misappropriation (allegation)," she said, adding this will also end the trust of the people against the commission.

"The leadership in EC should be ashamed. Such undemocratic decisions should be retracted," she added. -Mkini