Surendran: Court said EC fell short of international transparency standards

PKR's Padang Serai MP N Surendran claimed that the court had yesterday said the Election Commission (EC) did not live up to international transparency standards.

"The court in dismissing the Selangor government's suit on the redelineation exercise found that the actions of the EC did not legally bind and adversely affect the state government.

"This is very far from saying that the redelineation was properly or fairly done.

"The judge in his oral decision found that the EC had fallen short of international transparency standards," Surendran said in a statement today.

This confirms and reinforces the complaints by the opposition and civil society about the standards of the EC, he said, as there can be no fairness if there is no transparency.

He was responding to the EC chairperson Mohd Hashim Abdullah who had yesterday said that the court's decision proved that the EC did its duty in a transparent manner in line with legislative requirements.

Surendran, who is a lawyer by profession, said the judge also ruled that the EC had failed to rebut the allegations of malapportionment and gerrymandering which was raised by the Selangor government.

"The EC and BN leaders have repeatedly denied that there has been malapportionment and gerrymandering in the redelineation exercise, but when given the opportunity to rebut the allegations in court, they failed to do so," he said.

As such, he called for the EC and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to explain to the public, the poor transparency standards and the allegations of malapportionment and gerrymandering.

In dismissing the suit yesterday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had rejected the four grounds for review filed by the Selangor government.

Justice Azizul Azmi Adnan ruled that he was bound by the Court of Appeal's decisions in this matter.

However, he granted a stay on his decision, which prevents the EC from conducting an inquiry on the grouses of voters in Selangor. -Mkini